It doesn’t seem so long ago that, to go shopping, you’d head for your nearest town centre or mall. The internet drove a truck through that model, though, and click-purchasing has become the norm. So simple is it that consumers can sit at home and bring the world to their doorstep – over and over again. But what if this purchasing became compulsive?
We're talkin' 'bout a revolution - in an e-commerce warehouse
Enter Michele Puleio. His character marvels at the simplicity and efficiency of online buying. He is aware of the cost of this system – suppliers and delivery companies having to cut costs and employ unsavoury working practices – but he is ambivalent, feeding his God complex. He becomes immersed, overwhelmed, and spirals into obsession. His relationship with his girlfriend falters, then breaks, as a result.
Now he is resentful of the system and settles upon the idea of striking back at the organisations: he will find a way to get inside one of the largest distribution companies and take people hostage. This is not so straightforward, though – the worker bees are subject to stringent checks and may not even use a mobile phone inside. So how will he smuggle in a gun? He hatches a convoluted but ingenious plan: he will create his own online shop, send himself a gun, gain employment at the distribution centre, and ingratiate himself so that he can receive the item from within. There is much that may go awry with this strategy, but he nonetheless succeeds.
He takes his co-workers hostage, threatening to shoot them. Puleio sequentially becomes these disparate characters and we hear their voices – among them the 54-year-old nerd, the displaced shopkeeper, the middle manager, the admin assistant. They, of course, share the same workspace, but what becomes clear is that none of these people chose this life; they are not in control of their destiny. Therefore, one or two of them admire our protagonist.
Blasé is well performed by Michele Puleio, doubtless trained in physical theatre. He conveys the different characters through voice, physicality, and attitude, and the transitions are excellent. The production, probably with influences from the theatre of the grotesque, is well directed by Luca Zilovich, though it would benefit from an edit. There are moments that jar slightly to the non-Italian observer, but this does not detract overall.
Officine Gorilla are to be congratulated, this being the first production of Blasé in English, which is no mean feat for a non-native speaker. The final message – that solo revolutions are selfish and doomed to failure – is well made.
