by Chris Meloche

A Brief Description

Like most people who use e-mail, Chris Meloche has been the recipient of countless unwanted junk messages. In 2005, Meloche began to look at the content of these messages as the start of an artistic project which would eventually shape itself into Communication Breakdown.

Instead of deleting these annoying messages, Meloche began to archive them. In a relatively short amount of time he had collected several thousand of the offending communications. The question eventually became one of contextualizing these messages into a form which could be presented as a work of art.

In the end, it was decided to create a stage production which would show these spurious e-mails in the context of an alternative opera. The piece would eventually evolve into a multi-media creation featuring two "recipients" presenting the content of several dozen e-mails while being accompanied by video projection and ambient soundscapes.

Over the course of more than a year, Meloche has waded through thousands of e-mails and compiled a treasure-trove of some of the most interesting messages. The wealth of such an archive of material has also led to an unseen benefit. Since there were so many of these e-mails, he was able to produce a work in which the text content can change with each performance. Each of the three performances that constitute the premiere presentation will contain a number of different e-mail elements. No two performances will be exactly alike.

For the London Fringe Festival premiere, Meloche has assembled a cast and crew from some of London’s best artists. Jeff Culbert and Penn Kemp star as the "Recipients" of the junk e-mails. They have previously performed together in the context of the Burst: Outward Sound & Vision Festival where they presented some of Penn Kemp’s sound poetry to the accompaniment of Meloche’s electroacoustic soundscapes. The collaboration in this situation was one of quite magical dimensions and served as a starting point for future endevours.

Video artist Maurice Carroll has long been one of London’s creative forces in this field. For this presentation, Carroll has worked with Meloche to create a visual backdrop of ambient shape-shifting images accompanied by animated text. The images and text run throughout the show and create a world where the audience are deeply immersed in an overload of information.

The production also contains Meloche’s ambient electroacoustic soundscapes which serve as an aural backdrop against the spoken text and shifting visual images.

Communication Breakdown is journey in which the audience will undoubtedly identify with the content of junk e-mail and information overload. They will also find themselves drawn into a world where the truth is mixed with lies and their senses are stimulated by the sonic and visual elements.

Production Title: Communication Breakdown: A Journey Down the Misinformation Superhighway

Author: Chris Meloche

What: A live stage production - multi-media, spoken-word alt.opera

Participants: Jeff Culbert & Penn Kemp (performers), Maurice Carroll (video projections), Chris Meloche (music, soundscapes, spamorabilia)

Where: The McManus Studio Theatre (downstairs at The Grand Theatre), 471 Richmond St., London, Ont., Canada

When: Friday, Aug. 1 (7:30PM), Saturday, Aug. 2 (10:30:PM), Monday, Aug. 4 (4:00PM matinee)

Tickets: $9.00

Tag line 1: Truth is stranger than fiction. Lies are everywhere.

Tag Line 2: A darkly humorous, cautionary tale of life in the Information Overload Age.

Note: This performance contains some quite rude language and fairly nasty references which may be offensive to some people. Recommended for mature audiences (18+)

Production description: A darkly humorous look at the world of junk e-mail in the "information overload age". Jeff Culbert and Penn Kemp play two "recipients" of junk e-mail. Over the course of the production, the two performers read and comment upon dozens of e-mails which have worked their way into their respective in-boxes. During the presentation, the performers are accompanied by video projections created by Maurice Carroll and ambient soundscapes and music by Chris Meloche.

The production consists of five parts: Overture: You’ve Got Mail, Act 1: Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware), Interlude: Cyberspace Redux, Act 2: Hot Stuff, Finale: Power Down. Total running time is 52 minutes.

On the Web: www.chrismeloche.com, http://londonfringe.ca/stage-show.php?id=30

Contact: Chris Meloche - e-mail - chris[dot]meloche[at]sympatico[dot]ca

Support: Many thanks to the Ontario Arts Council for their support of this production.

Brief Bio Info