The Club 3.0
Fight Club meets theatre meets politics in this bizarre event that ends in a hipster wrestling match.
Overview
As we walked through the streets of North Melbourne, my date turned to me and asked, “Is this actually a fight club you’re taking me to? How is this even a thing?” I had no real answer for him. Although I had done some research, I hadn't been able to find much information disclosing the nature of the event itself (first rule of fight club etc) and now, even after attending, I still don’t know if I could answer his question.
Once arriving at the venue, we sat on a large platform stage and waited. Two charming men from Amsterdam (New Heroes company director Lucas de Man and performer Michael Bloos) leapt up on stage, and with the help of a good ol’ PowerPoint display, began by listing social and entrepreneurial movements made in recent years by young people. It was more entertaining than you think, but how it tied into the rest of the show still slightly baffles me.
The evening progressed with re-enactments of scenes from Fight Club and before long they had half the audience signing waivers. So began the fighting part of the night — seriously, it was like “Brad Pitt this, Edward Norton that, LET’S KICK EACH OTHER".
Admittedly it was exciting, and despite being a generally unfit and passive person, I did feel the urge to join the action. One after another, Melbourne hipsters took to the mats and wrestled each other. As entertaining as it was, it was difficult to understand how they were going to give the evening any more meaning than 'sometimes beating someone up feels good' and to be honest, I have a real issue with that mentality.
Following the fighting, Bloos and de Man attempted to workshop what felt like a sort of self help-anarchistic-literary appreciation-arts student-cult meeting. Every three minutes we were being told that the world is crumbling around us and the only way to truly be ourselves was to beat each other up. Herein lies the major fault with the show.
It seeks to address serious social and political issues in an inspiring and assertive manner, but somewhere between being told the '90s were better because you could blow shit up and Darwinism limits self expression (okay, that was an audience member, but still) it felt like a poorly orchestrated student protest. The show ended with a strange and unexpected 'wherever you go, there you are' style activity, which added to the confusion of the whole evening.
On the walk home, my date and I spoke about the events of the night, and while the point of the performance had been lost on us, we still appreciated whatever it was we had just been a part of. If nothing else, I can guarantee this is the best people-watching event going 'round.
This event appeared as one of our top picks for the 2014 Next Wave Festival. See the full list here.
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