What I liked
What would you say if you came face to face with your Creator? What would you ask? What would you want to know? That’s the basic concept behind GOD: THE APOLOGIES TOUR, another immersive show taking place during the Hollywood Fringe Festival. I’m not a religious person, I don’t believe in a higher power, but I was intrigued by this.
A few months ago, we spoke to creator Erik Blair and producer Thea Rivera about the creation of this show (along with their horror piece, CAPTIVATED), and since then, I’ve been anxiously awaiting to check it out. Let me tell you, it was worth the wait.
The show itself is surprisingly simple; it’s just a series of conversations and monologues that aim to give you a little more insight into what The Creator had in mind when he created this universe, amongst many others, and to give you an opportunity to question the hows and whys.
It starts off with Erik Blair, playing The Creator in his “main form”, taking the stage and introducing the piece. Charming and funny, he puts the audience at ease, and plays the role with a tiny bit of neurosis that definitely endured me to the character more. From there, the show splits off, introducing other incarnations of The Creator, as he is omnipresent. Versions of himself, such as Spirituality and Self-Reflection, are present, and guests are able to follow whom over of the grouping they choose to hear what they have to say. However, you are only given two rounds of conversation, adding a bit of a replay ability factor to the show if you want to hear what everyone had to say.
I choose to spend my time with The Creator himself for the first round. Much like his introduction, Blair continued to make me laugh here. As eight of us gathered around a table with him, The Creator was incredibly candid in his responses. The questions my group askes ranged from ridiculous (“Who killed Jimmy Hoffa?”) to somewhat bleak (“Why is there childhood disease?”). Blair, who is clearly skilled in the areas of religion and philosophy, was able to answer everything with ease, and managed to be charming throughout the entire session.
While the bells rang to signify our next session, I choose to see Self-Reflection, as played by Stepy Kamei. For this segment, Kamei stood before a mirror, and didn’t look at us directly. Instead, she looked at our reflections, while telling us to do the same. Her monologue was powerful, and showed us the power we gave her; how self-reflection was important to our lives. It was incredibly moving.
After, we all reconvened back at the main stage to hear The Creator talk a bit more, and finally, get to the “apologies” part of his tour.
Honestly, while somewhat loosely structured and full of improve, this was one of the strongest Fringe shows I have seen thus far, and one I very much enjoyed. They Played Productions have created something fun out of an incredibly simple concept.
If you’re looking for something a bit different this year at Fringe, I suggest checking this out, because it was quite an enjoyable time spent with The Creator.
There are only six shows overall of GOD: THE APOLOGIES TOUR, because of course, on the seventh day, he rested. Don’t sit out, make sure you speak with God today.
What I didn't like
N/A
My overall impression
What would you do if you could talk to God?
