Helmet (Oberon Modern Plays)

Description

Helmet (a.k.a Roddy) lives his life completely immersed in computer games. The little time he has away from his consoles is spent in The Zone, an extremely low tech games shop, which has just this very day gone bankrupt. Sal, the down-trodden owner of The Zone, is left wondering where it all went wrong. At one time he was the pride of his family and had a bright future ahead of him. Now his wife hates him, his dad's going to kill him and to make things worse he's stuck killing time in his failed shop with Helmet, a pale ghost of a boy and exactly the type of operson Sal blames for his downfall. The shop is Sal's prison, but it's Helmet's church. As they get to know each other, hiding from reality for a while, it becomes clear that Helmet has a secret that could make things a lot worse for both of them. Helmet is structured in levels like a computer game, with each character having three lives and energy bars projected on stage. A production involving art graphics projections and effects goes on tour from March until June 2002, including performances at The Traverse, Edinburgh and the Soho Theatre, London.