WERNER HERZOG AT VIDEO JUNGLE REVIEW BY MATTHEW DONLAN

In ‘Werner Herzog at Video Jungle’, the acclaimed German director passes his time manning the front desk of a video rental store in Canterfield. From this vantage point on his Sunday shift, Herzog is granted glimpses into customers’ lives, must battle pestering phone calls from his archenemy (and former muse) Klaus Kinski and reckon with his role in a dying industry.

Caitlin A. Kearney (the show’s writer and solo performer) embodies not just Herzog but also his strange assortment of colleagues and customers. From cinephiles to ex-prisoners, David Lynch to Quentin Tarantino, Kearney covers the gamut of likely suspects. With each new addition, this odd celluloid dream becomes more real and believable.

Don’t question why one video store is populated with Hollywood’s directors and another with its actors, just allow the show’s absurd but intriguing premise shift to one with real emotion. As each new character brings a new perspective on the importance of films, the silliness becomes sentimental. What isn’t more romantic than a film student and passionate cinephile sharing a meet-cute in the aisles?

Kearney’s set, a simple red corner counter-desk, takes you back to those afternoons in adolescence when the whole world sat on the shelves. Re-live the struggle that is deciphering the complex combo-deal of weeklies, new releases and snacks and ponder what could possibly be behind the beaded curtain.

Even if you are unfamiliar with Herzog’s filmography (or cinema in general), the German filmmaker’s voice is iconic for his bleakly humorous observations on the state of man and nature. Kearney’s impression, while not always perfecting the Southern German accent, is particularly strong at following the strange word choice and dramatic structure of Herzog’s narration. It is effective at evoking the tone of the auteur burdened to witness man’s futility.

The impression is aided with a spattering of real-life quotes from the director woven throughout. Sometimes they are reworked for the scene, and other times delivered verbatim, sliding in perfectly alongside Kearney’s writing. There was, perhaps though, just slightly too many niche references to Herzog’s career and life which flew over the audiences’ heads.

While not wholly a new sentiment amongst emerging creatives today, Kearney’s final monologue speaks to the importance of celebrating the human grit of art and calls on us to stand against perceived ‘inevitabilities’ of technological advancement. ‘Werner Herzog at Video Jungle’ is a beautiful eulogy for the video store. It is a beautiful testament to a by-gone era before the (kinetic) sands of time eroded it away.

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Matthew Donlan attended Werner Herzog at Video Jungle at QTOPIA on Wednesday 9 September. The show plays until Saturday 12 September.