I originally saw Belgian theatre artist Gaetan Schmid perform his self-authored The Beer Show subtitled – the history of humankind seen through a beer glass – at the Obz Café. It was good then and has even tightened up since. It is now a neat, well-honed and well-target package. Chris Weare directs.
Schmid traces what is an obsession amongst his fellow nationals – beer (all in all there are probably a thousand different varieties in Belgium) from its origins in ancient Mesopotamia with his character Shôn the Sumerian who discovered the first brewing techniques; to the Pharaohs and Jesus; to Emperor Domitius, a power hungry Roman colonizer and his horse; the mad Benedictine monks in their laboratories; the Industrial Revolution; globalisation and the rise of the multinational corporations with the demise of beer through greed and carbonation; to today’s Underground Beer Revolution spearheaded by the microbrewery.
Schmid is a consummate clown steeped in the physical vocabulary of European performance. His subtle humour is eccentric, intelligent, yet easily accessible. Particularly heartening is his laissez faire approach to excess and in times where tolerance of religious intolerance threatens to reverse the progress man has made in his intellectual journey through history, Schmid’s impiety and post-Enlightenment irreverence is hugely welcome and refreshing.
The Incredible Beer Show remains a frothy ferment of imagination and distilled history.
