Camden Fringe Review: Hope For Robots @ Etcetera

Lindsey
By Lindsey Last edited 163 months ago
Camden Fringe Review: Hope For Robots @ Etcetera

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William Stopha
William Stopha is a beatboxing teacher with a head full of poetry, a bag full of gadgetry and an awesome red robot with a story to tell.

Albertoh (silent 'h') the Robot is Stopha's co-star, a cute metaphor for the human processed by an inhuman system, programmed not encouraged to think. Albertoh has a lightning bolt epiphany and gets some new components, experiments with creativity and gets himself a smile. The story is punctuated with poetry, rhyming and songs about a life spent in front of a monitor, fidgetty schooldays, the wonder of TV, thinking and questioning and one lovely lovesong to London.The simple set of armchair flanked by robot is augmented by the use of projections, particularly a website that you can text live during the show. There are also videos to accompany the rhymes and some beautiful comic book art to illustrate the story. Which is all smashing but distracts somewhat from William himself, who emits enough warmth, energy and wit to light up a far bigger room without the multi-media bling.At the end, Stopha duets with Albertoh - music making wizardry cunningly concealed in his robot front - live looping a unique track for the evening. He's wary of declaring a moral for the story but if there is one, it's 'make shit'. Be creative, think and question. The story, robot and beats may be homemade but as the final refrain points out, this show is "never, ever average".Hope For Robots is at Etcetera Theatre tonight at 7.30pm. All tickets for The Camden Fringe are £7.50. Find out more at The Camden Fringe website.
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Last Updated 09 August 2010