Beached

Overview

There aren't many protagonists in modern theatre much like Arty, the subject of the Melbourne Theatre Company's new production, Beached. Lazy and living at home, but with grandiose visions of one day becoming an explorer or even a movie star, Arty is a perfectly average hero. He's the sort of character Seth Rogen might play in a Judd Apatow film, with one one large difference — he weighs 400 kg, a fairly unsubtle metaphor for a man who is literally going nowhere.

Written by Melissa Bubnic and directed here by Petra Kalive, Beached (yes, as in whale), takes the well-worn cliche of a man who has lost his way and gives it a decidedly modern twist by having him compete in a reality television competition to win life-saving surgery. Under the watchful eyes of the camera and with the help of his doting mother JoJo, Arty makes an extreme physical transformation, but at what cost?

Cleverly incorporating puppetry and multimedia, Beached is a biting satire of the vacuousness and inhumanity of celebrity culture and reality TV. Much like Arty himself, this is one production that cannot be missed.

Image via mtc.com.au