What’s the sound of one hand clapping? STOMP wouldn’t know, so you might as well keep that philosophical conundrum to yourself. What’s the sound of 10 pairs of hands and feet clapping, slapping, kicking, banging and, well, stomping on a junkyard’s worth of metal, rubber and assorted trash? Just watch, listen and try to keep up while the cast of this imaginative, powerful show ponders that one.
Since its evolution from street performances in the United Kingdom in 1991 by creators Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, STOMP has practically become a household name. The show, which began its Boston run in February, has freshness and energy due to its talented and charming cast.
The show is loosely structured around the day of a construction crew full of colorful characters. The cast’s stage sweeping creates a contagious rhythm that moves through other objects. The crew tosses plastic water jugs in the air and drums them with a deft touch. In this percussive world, matchboxes act as a catalyst for jam sessions. And in a fun bit of audience participation, performer Jeremy Dolan attempts to rectify the non-rhythmic clapping of the crowd.
Watching the performers coax astounding sounds out of these unlikely instruments is delightful it all leads to a mind-blowing breakdown involving metal and rubber bins, with the drummers suspended from the chain-link fence set. The show culminates in a finale that is an ingenious mix of dance, martial arts and trash can cymbals.
The show produces a unique brand of music that is at once raw and precise it has a seemingly bottomless Hefty bag full of tricks. STOMP is a captivating, unique theatrical spectacle that blows over the audience with the speed and power of a syncopated freight train and it’s an unforgettable ride.
Jason Rosoff, 24, plays the comic foil amidst all the aluminum and steel in the latest incarnation of the legendary STOMP at Boston’s Stuart Street Playhouse. He recently talked with the Muse about his experiences as part of the unconventional theater experience.
Muse: Were you one of those kids who was always banging on your mom’s pots and pans with a big spoon?
Rosoff: Not really. I was more one of those kids who was kind of in their own world, imagining things.
Muse: Have bonds developed between members of the Boston STOMP cast?
Rosoff: Definitely with the people I trained with. We did our training in Central Square at the YWCA for six weeks in the freezing cold and it was the seven of us. We all got really, really close. You kind of have to be, in a show like that there’s a lot of trust involved. Someone could get hurt if you second-guess someone.
Muse: What do you think of Boston?
Rosoff: I love Boston. It’s like a big town, and I like that a lot. I’m from New Jersey and you know the next city over is New York, which is just crazy there’s so much going on. But here I like it cuz it’s kind of intimate, there’s a lot of personality going on.
Muse: Where did you study?
Rosoff: Well I went to Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and I got a degree in percussion music. So I guess I’m doing what I’m trained to do. I kind of feel good that I’m using my degree.
Muse: That’s always good…
Rosoff: (Laughs) Yeah, my parents are like, ‘OK, we don’t hate you now.’
STOMP is now playing at the Stuart Street Playhouse, 200 Stuart St., Boston. Tuesday – Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 5 p.m. ‘ 9 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m. ‘ 7 p.m. Student rush tickets are available.