Theatre Review: Tamagotchi Reset
Sometimes a title can be so ambitious that it is difficult not to make assumptions. Ten Tonne Sparrow's Tamagotchi Reset and Other Doomsdays may sound like a Death Grips track name, but after watching the play I can say it is a rather straightforward description. There are no notions of false advertising here, except for maybe calling it a play. Tamagotchi Reset is kind of like this amalgam of a Bill Wurtz video, a lecture, an argument, and some very interesting (albeit obscure) historical storytelling. Something I only learned afterward is that the two writers have the actors play them, which goes amazingly. The characters are wonderfully overdone, and this is both a testament to the quality of the actors and the writing which puts them in duality constantly in order to fully explore all the ideas presented.
A word to the wise: this is a very, very verbose play. The two characters are used interchangeably as storytellers, and then directly after this to argue their own points and agendas. If you are walking into this expecting a great deal of character development and intricate interactions, get those silly notions out of your head. This play will sit you down, teach you some rather interesting bits of history and make you pick between sides you would have never even contemplated.
This play should be best applauded for making a crisp set and two actors really pop. The writing shines in this piece, and the Blue Room, the sound, the lighting; these all help to make sure that what is said gets through to the audience. Without getting into spoilers on little bits of the play, there is a surprising amount of relevant, modern anecdotal information here. In my case, I found this play to guilt me, and then poke fun at itself for doing so. In the end it really did get me thinking, and I was fully invested for the full 70 minute runtime. But maybe that comes down to my love for obscure history facts.
I give Tamagotchi Reset and Other Doomsdays 4 out of 5 hard to remove button batteries.
