How should I describe this insane show? Well, imagine children being let loose on pieces of empty packaging and then using their imaginations to make a fort. Only in this show, instead of making a fort, grown adults use 1000 pieces of cardboard to create a rousing escapade spanning several countries. The Ice Hole: A Cardboard Comedy is an unexpected blast of slapstick mayhem, where a great actor with the begrudging help of his faithful, uninhibited assistant, recounts his quest to find his true love: the mermaid Serena. The actor takes the audience on a journey from the Icelandic Fjords to the Spanish desert, using pieces of cardboard that are cut, twisted, bent and shaped to represent all manner of natural and man-made wonders, from goat poo to a cargo ship.
It is refreshing to see a show that is made from the reused packaging of other items and is entirely recyclable. The way in which cardboard is used to tell the story is ingenious, with the rapid pace of the narrative being handled with ease by the actor’s assistant. Flattened and boxed cardboard is used to represent all the obstacles the actor faces during his quest, as well as the tools that help aid the actor on his journey. It turns out that the potential for cardboard to bring a story vividly to life is limitless. Such clever use of cardboard to represent the same object in different sizes is excellent, conveying to the audience how far the actor has travelled.
In Act 2, the story becomes more meta, drawing attention to its own artifice as the synergy between the actor and his assistant starts to become undone. The moments where both performers break character, due to the assistant feeling exploited or the actor feeling unsatisfied with his assistant’s performance, adds an added layer of humour to already funny scenes.
The art of the running gag is tricky to achieve, especially if it lasts over a story that has a long runtime, as the gag can lose its punch the more often it’s repeated. Not in The Ice Hole though. Not just one, but several running gags pop up continuously and often unexpectedly during the story. Each repetition of the many running jokes never fails to elicit a sea of shaking shoulders from a giggling audience.
This thoroughly unique and unpredictable farce is a shining example of bravura world-building, where cardboard is the star of the show. Instead of putting your cardboard in the correct bin, maybe send it over to the producers and stars of this show.
Image by Fabienne Rappenneau provided to The Student as press material.