Spectacle tapes it to the limit

By AMANDA KYNE

Take a roll of Sellotape. Stick the end of it to a door handle and stretch it across a big room, back and forth. It is the most delicious feeling. That is what Sticky - the outdoor spectacle at AK03 - is all about.

On the phone from London, Sticky creator Lee Simpson says the show is like breaking a taboo. "When I was young and was wrapping presents, we were only allowed to use small pieces of Sellotape. Mum would tell us not to waste it."

Now, Simpson uses all the tape he likes - 7km a show, to be exact. And his mum? She hasn't seen the show yet. "I'm frightened of what she might say," laughs the 40-year-old.

Sticky is the creation of a European theatre company, Improbable, which was formed in 1996 by Simpson, Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch. Like all of their shows, Sticky contains strong technical elements. Fireworks, lighting, machinery, a crane, smoke, fire and 233 rolls of tape make the 50-minute show unique. Audiences around the world have marvelled at it, wondering how something as simple as sticky tape can look so effective.

"When Sellotape is stretched, it glows," says Simpson excitedly, like a school kid speaking about a new discovery. "Sellotape comes alive when lighting is poured on to it."

And that is how the story begins - from out of the darkness, sticky tape is stretched across space, creating a symphonic crackle of static and forming a giant cobweb where insects develop.

"Not nightmare-inducing, just scary enough," says Simpson. From there, 12 engineers and technicians transform the insect world into an architectural one, constructing a 30m tower made of sticky tape. Set against a backdrop of fireworks, the tower then becomes part of an industrial world where "huge Sellotape cogs do a dance".

"While it is big and spectacular, it is also delicate and fragile," says Simpson, referring to the Sellotape.

Risk-taking is the main element of all seven shows Improbable has created. "It's about getting yourself into trouble - creating a problem, then coming up with interesting solutions. If you don't think this is a stupid idea then it's probably not worth doing."

Sticky evolved from Improbable's international award-winning show 70 Hill, in which sticky tape played a small part. An event manager in the audience asked them to produce another show, with tape, on a grander scale for Glasgow's Year of Architecture and Design in 1999. And so Sticky was born. Since then it has entertained audiences in Britain, Portugal, Switzerland and throughout Australia.

All three men are from theatrical backgrounds. Simpson does standup comedy, has acted in films and sitcoms and has worked as a breakfast show DJ. McDermott and Crouch are also accomplished improvisers.

Unlike traditional theatre, they begin their shows by improvising, and they don't rehearse - fireworks are too expensive. So each of the 20 times Sticky has been performed in the past five years, it has been different.

"We don't discuss our idea first. We put it into practice, improvise, see what happens and then discuss it," says Simpson. "Every time we do it, we learn something new about it."

Here's hoping Sticky's New Zealand audience will not take the show too literally.

But if anyone does plan to break a few childhood rules, they will have to be quick. Improbable plans to source tape locally and we are not talking about just a few rolls.

Performance

* What: Sticky

* Where & when: Britomart Place, Saturday & Sunday 7.30pm