One of two shows at Edinburgh Festival Fringe by Tom Foreman Productions (the other being Boiler Room Six) Out of Woodstock tells the story of one of the most infamous festivals of all time – Woodstock ‘99 – through the eyes of Guy, a wide-eyed 19-year-old on the ground, as he’s joined by his two best mates and tasked with looking after his little sister for the weekend.
On entry, audience members are given a Woodstock ‘99 wristband, a nod to the festival experience and a hint to the forthcoming show’s intimacy – a small detail, but a nice touch. The rest of the show is similarly nuanced, driven by an engaging one-man performance from the excellent Max Beker who reacts to pre-recorded dialogue and dances and lip-syncs to music with seemingly limitless energy. Once it gets going, it never really lets up.
As the weekend kicks off, Guy describes the sights and smells, the scorching heat, the confiscation of water on the way in, the greedy pricing inside the gates, and the overall atmosphere of hedonism in explicit detail. It doesn’t take long before the madness sets in and the excessive drug taking, nudity, debauchery, violence, vandalism, blackouts and dreadful hangovers begin. We experience it all through Beker’s thrilling performance and the reactions of Guy’s friends and family to the awful things happening around them (including Guy’s increasingly erratic behaviour). It’s funny, shocking, and morally repugnant but it’s impossible to look away.
Lip-syncing and dancing to pre-recorded music might sound unimpressive but Beker is tightly rehearsed. You can tell he’s studied footage from the festival, expertly recreating the body language and movement of the performers. Some of the best moments are recreations of the chaos during sets by the likes of The Offspring, Korn and Limp Bizkit – the terrifying climax of Break Stuff where Fred Durst stokes the crowd is particularly hair-raising.
But this is not just a recreation of the disaster of Woodstock ‘99, there’s a poignant story woven in there too. Out of Woodstock discusses how, as we get older, our relationships with our friends and family change, how love can quickly turn into hate, and how seemingly good people can get carried away by the selfish pursuit of having a good time; a brilliant piece of theatre.
Keep an eye out for more from Tom Foreman Productions in the future.
