Self-realization after a Failed Life: In the Chamber 2010

It was an evening of self-realization and destruction Friday night for the performance of Last Man in Krakendorf, written and performed by Gordon Tanner, and Last Man in Punt arenas, written and performed by Stephen Ratzlaff.

In the first performance, Last Man in Krakendorf, Tanner played Doug, an agricultural engineer on the brink of losing it. The performance takes place in a hotel room where Doug is trying to record a video presentation for the boss about crowding in hog barns.

Despite the seemingly boring subject matter, I actually enjoyed part one of the show, Last Man in Krakendorf. Turns out it wasn't about hogs at all. Tanner first captured my attention with a strange opening that I still do not understand the significance of. The scene started with a silhouette of morning light shining through a window onto a bed. A man and woman lay there sleeping, when they begin fighting over the blankets. The woman gets up, annoyed, and begins to 'satisfy' the man, presumably Doug, although played by Ratzlaff. The woman leaves, and 'Doug' hears a disembodied voice shouting in German. The scene goes black, then the lights come up on the now empty room, and Doug runs in beginning the show.

I think this scene is a flashback, or perhaps a bad dream, of Doug's time in Germany studying in Krakendorf. As he later explains, this was an unpleasant time, and he regrets even going.

As the scene begins, the mood is lightened as Doug runs around flustered, preparing to begin recording his presentation. The audience was amused as he began recording, messing up his introduction several times, and having technical issues with the slide show he prepared.

Tanner maintained the somewhat comical mood throughout the performance, slowly realizing that he does not agree with anything he's proposing in the presentation.

By the end of act one, Doug is a change man. He wants to start doing some good with his life, instead of enabling cruelty to animals, cramming them into 8 sq. ft cages.

Act two, Last Man in Punt arenas by Stephen Ratzlaff, I found to be much less entertaining. Although Ratzlaff did bring a somewhat comical mood to the show as well, I did not enjoy it as much.

It was a simple enough idea, a dinner for a man retiring from a career in medical science, it came with too much medical jargon, which confused me. I think if some of the more confusing language about surgery, and medicine was dropped, the story would have had the same message, yet been accessible to more people.

After a short intermission, the lights went up on Ratzlaff getting up to make a speech to his friends and co-workers. Being a monologue, Ratzlaff was the only one on stage. The friends were represented by white balloons attached to the chairs around the table. Ratzlaff stood to put on a Hawaiian shirt, a gift from his friends, and began his speech.

He shared the same humorous style as Tanner, but again, the subject matter made the humour more difficult to catch on to. He began to speak about his ex-wife and his deceased child, and some of the complications they had. A few years ago, Ratzlaff explained, his wife of the time had an operation done to artificially impregnate her. The child was born with intellectual disabilities, as well as a malformed heart. Eventually after surgeries and many complications, the child died.

Much like Tanner's performance, Ratzlaff began optimistic about what he was saying, about all of his life's work in the medical field, but by the end was changed and realized that what he has done is wrong, at least it was with the lack of research done. All the pain could have been avoided if he had done more research instead of jumping right into the procedure to impregnate his wife.

He ends the performance (after offending all of his friends, causing them to leave) with a heart to heart with the waiter, whom I believe is a representation of his conscience. Ratzlaff, like Tanner, ends the performance a changed man wanting to better the world instead of destroying it.