Quizoola!
“What is the capital city of Spain? Why are people afraid to die? What is a tree? Was John Wayne really brave? Are you a natural blonde?”Quizoola! is a durational performance based on a text of 2000 questions by Tim Etchells. The piece lasts six hours and—as in other durational works by the company—the public are free to arrive, depart and return at any point.
Performed by a team of three actors in smeared clown makeup, Quizoola! is about the need for knowledge, certainty and definition through language. The players/performers take turns choosing questions from the text and making up answers on stage, lending the piece a live energy. The shape and content of each Quizoola! performance hangs in the balance, negotiated live between players and the public. As new questions are chosen and new answers made up, the mood shifts from low comedy to personal scrutiny to harsh interrogation and intellectual hairsplitting.
Quizoola! has been staged in a series of evocative and sinister environments, ranging from cellars and basements to changing rooms of abandoned gymnasia, scenery building workshops and railway arches.
“extraordinary, near-unclassifiable production.” IRISH TIMES
“a performance that changes the rule book.” THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
You can watch a section of Quizoola! filmed at Live Culture, at Tate Modern in 2003 at the Tate Modern website.
© Forced Entertainment 1996. 6-hour durational performance.
Commissioned by Lois Keidan and Catherine Ugwu at ICA Live Arts & National Review Of Live Art.
Credits
Conceived and devised by the company
Performers: Robin Arthur, Tim Etchells, Richard Lowdon, Claire Marshall, Cathy Naden, Terry O'Connor
Guest Performers; Kent Beeson, Mark Etchells, Tim Hall, Jerry Killick, Joe Lawlor, Sue Marshall, Ursula Martinez, Christine Molloy, Sophia New, Dan B. Rogers, Bruno Roubicek, John Rowley
Text: Tim Etchells and the company
Design/ Lighting Design: Richard Lowdon
