Mamoru Iriguchi is an experimental theatre designer and multimedia performance maker; he is also a man with a television awkwardly attached to the top of his head. He is joined onstage by fellow performer Selina Papousteli and she has an ill fitting projector attached to her head. This may seem a strange novelty, but for the duration of the performance Papousteli projects images, text, illustrations and animations onto the walls of the theatre space. The television also displays humorous text and illustrations which interplay with the projections. The televised and projected images work as a playful way for the performers to interact with one another and convey a story that is loosely influenced by Swan Lake with a helping of science fiction and comedy.
The interaction between the television and the projector works incredibly well with the performers cautiously moving around the stage and reacting to the images they produce. A space rocket is animated by the projector so it appears to travel around the perimeter of the theatre space, meanwhile, the television displays meteors and other space related imagery. When the rocket returns to the back wall of the stage a game of Space Invaders ensues, with the television displaying the evil invading robots. The way the interplay of the visuals is presented draws laughs from the audience and it is a total pleasure to observe such innovative and original use of projected imagery in a theatre piece.
Projector/Connector is a silent performance with the two protagonists allowing the images to do the talking. However, a dialogue does ensue with the clever and comedic use of televised text. Occasionally the performance turns into a live action comic book with Mamoru Iriguchi displaying words as a speech bubble on the television. This adds to the humour of the show and allows the performers to convey their emotions through words.
At times the television on the head of Mamoru Iriguchi looks cumbersome and difficult to control - he has to steady it with one hand to make sure it doesn't fall off. The performance relies heavily on movement and interaction and the shaky TV is a bit distracting. Having said this, Projector/ Conjector is an original piece of multimedia theatre that constantly amazes and never gets tired. The imagery is bold and the use of technology and media feels fresh and exciting.
