Death to have its day in musical about mortality

Inspired by Shakespeare but nothing like any of his plays, Yorick! is a light-hearted look at mortality.

"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him…"

It's the beginning of one of theatre's best-known quotes from one of Shakespeare's most performed tragedies, with as many different takes on the famous line as there have been actors playing Hamlet.

When Hamlet holds up the skull of a former court jester, a man whom he knew and loved, it begins — continues — a musing on the absolute ordinariness but terror of death. Depending on your frame of mind, the scene could well send you into a panic attack as you look at Hamlet holding poor Yorick's skull and realise that, one day, someone might do the same with your own.

For no matter how much we try to deny it, death will come to us all. It doesn't sound like a particularly promising beginning for a play — a musical no less — that wants to be funny and uplifting, but it's perfect for the challenge Wellington-based theatre-makers Binge Culture sets itself.

It's written and now performs Yorick!, a musical where four performers set out on an "optimistic quest" to understand mortality. Director Joel Baxendale says about three years ago, the company's relatively youthful members started talking about what would be the most difficult subject to tackle on stage.

Dying and death, they concluded.

"We don't talk about death much at all nor do we tackle the issues around it, like palliative care or how to look after the elderly members of our society," he says. "We don't even want to say the word and that's to the detriment of everyone. Maybe if we learned to deal with it properly, it might just give us more appreciation for life."

From those conversations, they started thinking about the "absolute opposite" of death and, somewhat strangely, decided the answer wasn't life but musicals. Baxendale says introducing music seemed like a good way to talk about a dark subject in a way that didn't make people feel terrible.

But given the enormity of the topic, boundaries needed to be put around it. Hamlet, especially pulling apart the final act, provided a starting point for a production in which actors swap and change characters but, essentially, fall into two camps: those who take a more scientific approach to understanding death and others with a more spiritual outlook.

"It's more of a conversation starter where people feel they can start thinking about the issue but have a cushion to support them. It's about living life and if you can be aware of your own mortality and engage with that, maybe gaining more a perspective on life and living it well."

Yorick! is Binge Culture's biggest production because it pulls together various elements they've used individually before — music, choreography, a big set — in one show.

"Usually we don't have to worry about a set because we're working outside," Baxendale explains. "But, yes, then there's the weather so, I suppose, there's a bit of take away one thing and replace it with another."

The company has good form when it comes to pulling off the tricky. It's taken previous productions to New York as well as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where a five-hour long show called Break Up (We Need to Talk) was nominated for the Total Theatre Award for innovation, experimentation and playing with form (it's okay, the audience could come and go during those five hours).

Baxendale is optimistic Yorick! could tour; after all, as he points out, Shakespeare is a popular drawcard and death is hardly an experience confined to New Zealand.

"Universal theme," he says, somewhat wryly.

For now, Yorick! introduces the latest instalment in Q Theatre's long-running Matchbox season where emerging theatre-makers are supported to put on innovative and imaginative, often premiere seasons, of new work. This year, Matchbox will include five pieces with further shows to be announced as the year progresses.

Lowdown:
What: Yorick!
Where & when: Loft at Q Theatre; June 12 — 23