Wow, Everything Is Amazing

Welcome to the church of tomorrow. Deptford-based youth performance project Sounds Like Chaos’ new show takes audiences 50 years into the future, turning them into the congregation at a ritualistic ceremony, where technology is the new religion and privacy a thing of the past. It’s all very Brave New World. No one asks any questions in this data-driven dystopia.

Gemma Rowan and Roisin Feeny’s show takes the form of a series of devised scenes, skits and songs performed by a diverse group of 15 performers aged 12 to 21, dressed up in futuristic jumpsuits covered in the logos of big tech companies.

There are some lovely touches – a funny history lesson on the internet of the 1990s, a smartly interwoven storyline about freedom fighters outside the system, and some wonderful twists of religious language (instead of “amen”, these digital parishioners click their fingers, gospel-style, and shout “agree and proceed!”).

The entire cast is impressive, from the strikingly stylish singing of Thriller Live alum Zuriel Kabasomi, to the goofily smiling freethinker Chimezie Anosike, whose curiosity ends up getting him deleted.

It’s also tightly choreographed from a technical point of view, with three projectors backlighting large translucent drapes, simultaneously casting Kat Heath’s set in a cool blue glow and allowing VIDEOfeet’s film design to fill the small space.

Wow, Everything Is Amazing is part of Occupy, a four-week long takeover of Battersea Arts Centre by voices underrepresented elsewhere in the performing arts – it’s exciting to see such young artists tackle such big issues.

Fire in the Machine review at Battersea Arts Centre – ‘vital and vibrant’