Throughout the pandemic, the arts had taken a significant hit. Theatre productions were canceled, music and dance thrown into the world of producing “virtually .” Some companies closed shop, while others took the pandemic as an artistic challenge, created new programming, and developed new ways of thinking. As companies go back to working in-person, one arts organization is diving deep into virtual theatre. The Chicago experimental arts group Cock and Bull Arts was founded in 2009 by forward-thinking theatre-maker Chris Garcia Peak, Cock and Bull is a non-profit organization and started out creating experimental theatre in Chicago producing work like the devised piece Voyage (apparently hiring director Rachel Chavkin for devising tips), The Legend of Ginger Bred, Voolf and immersive Ibsen re-make Lecherous Honey by experimental playwright Megan Breen. “During the pandemic, we decided to either wrap it up or think differently,” says artistic director Chris Garcia Peak behind a veil of giddy laughter. After creating a fully online virtual arts festival, Sessions/Isolation in 2020, featuring artists’ work created during the lockdown in their own countries, a narrative podcast series – The Children of Nyx, a grab bag of acoustic singers, radio dramas, and even a virtual pandemic survival guide – which features Peak’s own Roast Chicken recipe. Cock and Bull decided to keep swimming into unchartered territories.
In the nineties, Peak studied acting at The Mountview Theatre Academy in London, UK, and trained in directing at The Theatre School at DePaul University. “My training was intense. At Mountview, we had to be signed in every day at 8am, and if we weren’t, we were kicked out for the day. In movement classes, we were in full unitards…when I went to The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago, we directed shows in a broken-down old elementary school. We had to create magic out of dust and broken chairs. Once my friend and colleague was reprimanded for covering a torn-up floor with glue and sand to re-create the topography of Spain. I staged a play where you walked into the space there were two feet of torn-up newspapers, and I had created a secret pully system hidden in the ceiling…we didn’t care, we had to create theatre, and nothing would stop us!” The Theatre School at DePaul and Mountview Theatre Academy in London are now housed in impressive new glam complexes, but the artists they have trained over the years obviously learned how to create theatre amid chaos.
I learned about this fascinating new virtual production, The Octopus, through social media and word of mouth and dove deep, as they say, into the world of questions, life choices, and conspiracy theories. (Apparently, I need to make better choices and have a penchant for men who like cats). The Octopus is the newest virtual adventure by Cock and Bull Arts, a choose-your-own-adventure digital “game” or story using the platform Typeform, usually a web-based system for companies and brands to dig deeper into your lifestyle. You can create polls, surveys, and even questionnaires to discover your perfect mustache style to what type of hand cream to use. Cock and Bull Arts found it was also an ideal way to create a simple yet visually stunning tale about our current mental state of constant unhappiness with our lives via a choose-your-own-adventure story without having to “code”.
Video Credit: Los Angeles based actor Nathan Streifel is the intense and maniacally funny Azriel Feinstein, former child prodigy.
Told through a series of questions and answers, The Octopus is a pure dark comedy, supported by well-designed videos created with actors from across the Globe (check out the cast and funky collage art) and a side-splitting albeit bitchy narrative from the perspective of the underground goddess herself, The Octopus. The digital world created is intense, starkly funny, and wickedly smart.
“We wanted something humorous but dark. That has always been our aesthetic,” says Peak through a chuckle and grimace. Peak explains The Octopus was initially set to be a short digital film. The company members of Cock and Bull Arts created the content (Meg Elliott, Eddy Karch, Kristen King, Sarah Hecht, Noah Lepawsky, Chris Garcia Peak, Matthew Reich). While trying to find a way to share the content, Peak discovered Typeform. “Many of our productions have started from a seed, an idea, that I plant and let the company members allow it to grow. I try to ignite their fire and get them excited about some madness I want to investigate.” Peak is keen to point out that he is not the only mastermind behind the interactive piece, Co-directed and Sound Designed by Matthew Reich, a Chicago Sound designer and Cock and Bull Arts co-artistic director with story editing and story design by Sarah Hecht, actor, co-artistic director and company member.
Peak states, “this has been a wonderful opportunity to keep working together virtually and work with other actors from Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Germany, and China. It really is a global production. We had to work with each actor in a totally different way. Matt Reich and I observed actors via Zoom self-taping (the method actors use to submit themselves to auditions virtually). Each actor had to self-produce and use their iPhone to film, costume themselves, and improvise. It was a challenge, but they created great material. One of my goals with Cock and Bull Arts is to elevate the visual aesthetic while maintaining strong acting and character development. That is our goal with virtual theatre and storytelling. That really is a combination of all of my training.”
I dove into The Octopus and was taken aback by the attention to detail in the story, the narrative, the production quality of the videos. Also, it was just quite fun! The Octopus guides you through this adventure (I recommend setting aside an hour to play the game, taking different turns, and starting again). The Octopus herself is funny, judgmental, a bit shady, questionable, and gaslights you through the entire experience. I highly recommend diving into the virtual world of Cock and Bull’s interactive virtual theatre. There is also an even deeper dive you can go into on their website, peeking into hidden text messages from the characters, secret audiobooks, and taking your own personality test created by company member Noah Lepawsky, it’s equally as much fun, but I recommend playing the game first. I kept thinking of the connections and ties to each character the next day and went back to dip my toes again. (Who is Azriel Feinstein? Oh God I hope I don’t meet her/him on the train!) Pour a fat glass of chardonnay, slap on your earbuds, and dive deep into Cock and Bull’s The Octopus live until May 31st.
Play The Octopus at Cockandbullarts.org
Headphones are recommended ages 18+ probably due to profanity
Follow Cock and Bulls Art
Instagram: @cockandbull
Twitter: @cockandbullthea
