Baltimore artists Alex and Olmsted lean into their entertaining penchant for visible contraptions and wordless storytelling in their new piece, aptly named Really Quite a Lot of Mechanisms. Two workers, clad in cowls and greatcoats that would not be out of place in a production of Endgame, scuttle about a workshop, sometimes producing something useful, but often just punching a time clock and spilling a coffee can of screws and assorted hardware. Found in the can is a charming mini puppet on rods, a mere earthworm, but soon it’s put into service turning a crank in the workshop.
They’re watched over by a huge orbicular eye, also a puppet. Does the Eye suggest the Artist’s nagging self-editing and need to produce creative work? Perhaps, but later in the piece it shows its malevolent side, a HAL 9000 that can only be thwarted by a strategically placed parasol.
And there’s never enough time to eat lunch.
- Really Quite a Lot of Mechanisms, devised by Alex and Olmsted, Baltimore Theatre Project, Baltimore