TEMPING
10/24/20 - 11/22/20 THE WILD PROJECT GALLERY
August 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe - Assembly Fringe George Square
February/March 2023 Adelaide Fringe - University of Adelaide
August 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe - Assembly Fringe George Square
UPCOMING: August 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe - Assembly Fringe George Square
Somewhere in a filing cabinet in Delaware or Indiana, there is a table that shows how long we’re expected to live. Most of us will never see it. But what if your job was to update these tables, to record the beginnings and ends of thousands of lives? What if you found the formula to predict your own lifespan?
Sarah Jane Tully, a 53-year-old actuary, is taking her first vacation in years, and you’ve been hired to cover for her. TEMPING, the strange and comic tale of an employee’s inner life, is performed for an audience of one by a Windows PC, a corporate phone, a laser printer, and the Microsoft Office Suite. Filling in at Sarah Jane’s cubicle, you’ll update client records, send emails, and eavesdrop on intra-office romance. Each performance is unique, depending on which tasks you accomplish and which of your co- workers you decide to trust.
Congratulations, you’re the new temp! Get ready to work. With no live performers, the peice interacts with the single audience member and challenges them with themes of human interaction through technology, isolation, and death. Contrasting the anonymity of an Excel spreadsheet with furtive moments of human intimacy, TEMPING brings you deep into the heart of corporate America.
“★★★★★ This is theatre at its most immersive and interactive...A technical masterclass.”
“★★★★★ Glimpses of human frailty punctuate the mundane office routine, and seemingly simple tasks trigger moving reflections on the lives of strangers and one’s own mortality.”
“★★★★ A jewel-like show, elegantly paced with a constant flow... A quietly moving, slightly unsettling, miniature masterpiece of a show.”
“★★★★ ‘Temping’ may not be ‘conventional’ theatre but I still left the space feeling ‘changed’ and isn’t that what ‘theatre’ is all about? I walked out with a renewed sense of wanting to really ‘live’ my remaining years of life”
“The beauty of TEMPING is that it doesn’t do the thinking for you. Instead, it allows you to live an experience that you may not have had before and decide what that means for you... Aside from the beauty of its storytelling, Temping is near flawless in its execution... The beauty of Temping is in the precise timing... everything was exactly catered to my pace... I wanted to text everyone I knew to go see Temping.”
“A moving meditation on mortality.”
“Makes you think deeply about the state of the working world.”
temping
Dutch Kills presents the Wolf359s interactive and immersive experience.
Written by Michael Yates Crowley.
Directed by Michael Rau.
Designed by Asa Wember
Set by Sara C. Walsh
Operators: Julia Cavagna, Sophie Crockett, Jack McGuire, Charlotte McPherson, Levi Morger, Alley Scott, Alec Silver, and Asa Wember
“★★★★★ It’s an extraordinary piece of work: subtle, intricate, intriguing and provoking... extraordinarily interesting and strangely fun. ”
“★★★★ TEN BEST THEATRE SHOWS OF 2022”
“★★★★ There’s unlikely to be anything else like temping... it deserves to stand out. ”
“★★★★ Immersive, innovative, thought-provoking – temping is live performance as you have never experienced it before.”
“★★★★”
“Ideal. ”
“The production of temping is remarkable...this is one you shouldn’t miss. ”
“It is a smorgasbord of immersive tricks, with seemingly infinite items and nooks to explore...A triumph of design, innovation, and satire. Tiny delights – a working paper shredder, a drawer of assorted chocolate, a labelled stapler – lend Temping a truly unique and worthwhile freshness.”
“An intriguing mystery. ”
“Temping has never been so satisfying.”
“Crowley’s expert script pushes you to consider the value of each and every life.”
“I want to get to know Dutch Kill Theater and the creators better.”