In this week's Backstage Blog, we chat with director and creator Chris Patrick Hansen on his upcoming show, BLACKPILL., opening on April 17 at Explosives Factory; get the insider scoop to ready yourself for this unique show!
Q. What should audiences expect when they come to see BLACKPILL.?
A. BLACKPILL. is an interrogation of online female-hating subcultures, with a specific focus on the incel (involuntary celibate - or virgins not by choice) community. In a dis-symphonic mish mash of style and genre, audiences will be drawn into the cyberchasm, as we dive headfirst into the nihilism, vitriol and twisted justification that runs to depths most of us supposed ‘Bluepillers' are entirely unaware. Most of us are familiar with the charismatic front men of ‘Alpha Male’ communities, but beneath that thin surface of rage-bait and pseudo-intellectualism is a dark corner of the internet that is left to rot, allowing hate and anger to grow under the protections of non-existent oversight and total anonymity. An ensemble of ten superstar performers will shift moment to moment - at times an incel army, a home workout video, TV sitcom leads breaking into a house, a hive-mind of HR representatives, a tap-dancing group of fedora-wearing pick up artists, a manifestation of the vibe of Hugh Grant - distilling the chaos of the internet onstage. It’s like scrolling through TikTok at lightspeed. Beneath all of the distractions of fast-form content is a human story about two men, both disillusioned and bittered, and how their paths fork away from each other.
Q. What inspired you to create this show?
A. BLACKPILL. has been a ‘back pocket idea’ of mine for several years now. The broad strokes concept of creating a show about the dangers of online subcultures - and the predatory tactics they use to recruit boys in the 12-16 year old age bracket - has been something I’ve sat on for a long time. When TheatreWorks gave me the exciting opportunity to actualise this idea, I came to questioning the form that this show should take. There’s a vitally important story adjacent to BLACKPILL. about how online subcultures like the incel community affect women, but it’s not a story that I have the life experience or right to tell. What I can speak to with some authority is the alarming access that groups like the incel community get to young and impressionable minds, and the role that men take in enforcing accountability in the other men around them. My script dramaturg, Nick Jay, challenged me to summarise BLACKPILL’s thesis statement in five words. Pretty quickly, we landed on ‘community can help or hurt’. The two most common inception points to the incel community are young boys searching ‘how do I talk to girls?’ or ‘workout tips’. Recruiters (yes, they have recruiters) for the incel community target the comments and discussion pages of this sort of content specifically, moulding innocently posed questions into a distrust and hatred of women - ‘inceldom'. This attitude may burn brightest within the incel forums, but its effect is seen on a much wider scale. Think of it like Miranda Priestly’s monologue from The Devil Wears Prada - while the participants in the incel community may only be a small group of people, or the “high fashionistas” of radicalised misogyny, they become trendsetters of misogynistic culture, leaking these ideals into schools, workplaces, community groups and especially other online platforms to enforce the broader attitudes that populate the world far more widely (in this simile, the “consumer fashion”). I created this show to expand public understanding of what goes on beneath the surface of incel culture. Outside the public view exists a much deeper community, one becoming more and more radicalised, growing rapidly and targeting potential new members with chilling efficiency.
Q. If anyone could see this show, who would you want to see it? And what do you hope audiences take away after seeing BLACKPILL?
A. Short answer - Boys. Young boys, disaffected boys, disillusioned boys, frustrated boys with no-one to reason that frustration with except other frustrated boys. Longer answer - There is no stronger influence on our values than the community we exist in. We learn the behaviour to tolerate, and ultimately the behaviour to mimic, from the people we surround ourselves with. I hope that anyone who sees BLACKPILL. can leave with a more nuanced understanding of the nature of the beast we’re up against. In this sense, the show is a call to action - a reminder that we accept the standard we walk past and if we don’t loudly and openly advocate for positive masculinity, there are other voices out there that can draw in impressionable minds. Condemning and rejecting the incel ideology is necessary. Ignoring that it’s out there is reckless and negligent. It thrives on our lack of wanting to admit it’s there, and we have to acknowledge and understand it better to be effective in correcting its influence.
Q. What has been the most memorable moment throughout the creation and rehearsal process?
A. Seeing this ensemble of performers do our opening sequence at full throttle for the first time. It was so electric. I felt chills. I can’t even begin to describe the talent in our performance ensemble, they make every moment of the show feel so active and alive. And they’re all so damn funny, my writing is flattered by how ingeniously they manage to deliver it. The credit is with them. A close second is seeing an early scene between Eli (our protagonist) and a Star Wars fan he’s trying to rizz up on Hinge. We have two performers alternating in this role (and all our roles - so you’ll have to come twice!) and each of them had the room in absolute stitches in totally different ways. It’s amazing how two gun performers can find totally different rhythms, intentions and punchlines in the same dialogue, it makes rehearsals such a constant joy.
Don't miss out on this incredible show, coming to Explosives Factory soon! Running from April 16 to 26, this is a must see - get your tickets now!
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