There’s a whole new kind of show coming to the Prospect Playhouse in March this year. It’s a show that has no script, no plot and no music. There is no melody and no dancing in the traditional sense – yet it’s guaranteed to entertain.
So what is this genre-defying production?
It’s “Stomp the Rock”, an original production by Sue Howe.
It’s based on the concept of Stomp and Stomp Out Loud – a show with a whole lot of rhythm and movement instead of words and language, but the Stomp the Rock performances are entirely unique to this particular production.
“Stomp the Rock is original in the fact that the scenes and rhythms are our own,” Sue says. “Myself, Tom Blake and my daughter Hannah Howe came up with most of the concepts for the scenes, but all of the cast members have contributed ideas, so it really has been a group effort.”
There is no story line in this production but there are a variety of scenes – the Newsroom, the Night Cleaners, the Lunch Room – where everyday objects, like brooms and dustbin lids, are used to tap out rhythms which build and evolve through the scene.
The 10-strong cast all have either acting, musical or dance experience, Sue says, but it’s still a challenging show to put together.
“Teaching people the routines, building characters with just rhythm and movement without a script, trying to build up our scenes to have as many layers as we can to make sure they are interesting, and remembering a lot of counting, as it’s all about counting, are some of the hard parts,” she says.
“Not everyone is a drummer, so that’s been a learning curve in itself. It’s great though that all of our cast has a performing background and some are very fast to learn,” Sue adds.
The cast of percussionists is led by Tom Blake, a talented drummer of just 14 who has over seven years’ experience playing drums. Tom has also been involved in producing and directing aspects of this very different kind of show.
“We hope we can deliver a show that audiences haven’t experienced here in Cayman,” Sue says. “We hope they leave feeling that they were well entertained, that they’ve had fun and that they find themselves tapping out a rhythm on their dashboards as they leave the Prospect Theatre parking lot.”
Stomp the Rock opens on 8 March and runs until 24 March.
It’s based on the concept of Stomp and Stomp Out Loud – a show with a whole lot of rhythm and movement instead of words and language, but the Stomp the Rock performances are entirely unique to this particular production.
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