Stomp, In with a bang> Percussive performance artists drum up following

Even if you don’t march to a different drummer, you’re going to love the sounds and rhythms of STOMP.

Created by a pair of English visionaries, STOMP is a unique combination of percussion, movement and visual comedy that has grown to become an international sensation. Creators Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas spent a decade putting together their performance. The two met while working as street performers commonly known as “buskers” in Brighton, England.

STOMP drawns its inspiration from the cacophony of modern life. It is a riveting sound machine that bombards its audiences with noises one usually tries to block out. STOMP takes everyday sounds of pipes, brooms, cigarette lighters, matchbooks and even garbage can lids, and uses them to creates an extraordinary blend of sound and rhythm. With these guys there’s not a conventional drum in sight. They would rather beat on plastic bags, plungers, hubcaps and wooden poles than tom-toms.

It is explosive, provocative, sophisticated, sexy, and utterly unique. The eight-member troupe of performers uses every odd thing they can swing, grab or kick to fill the stage with magnificent sounds and a music all their own. STOMP is a movement of bodies, objects and sounds. There is no speech, no dialogue, not even a plot.

Members of the group “make a rhythm out of anything we can get our hands on that makes a sound,” notes Cresswell. “It is a very up show, a very positive show, and I think the idea is an extremely simple idea and I don’t think there is any question about that. It is performed with immense enthusiasm, with a lot of sweat and a lot of energy.”

One of the major things STOMP has going for it is the fact that it is a piece of theater created in its entirety by musicians. There is no dialogue and no evidence of the persistent melodies of conventional shows. It is totally rhythmically based. Everything that happens in the show evolves from the rhythms of the performers and the various objects they use to produce them.

“The prime directive for all the performances is rhythm comes first,” McNicholas says. “Movement comes second and we try to make that mixture more interesting and more palatable by adding levels of comedy to it.”

At one point in the show the performers do a routine wearing oil drums on their feet. According to Cresswell, that bit evolved from the thought that it would be a lot of fun to get hold of some giant platform shoes and stomp around on them. Then there are the smaller stage turns such as merging flickering cigarette lighters into a combination of visual and sound.

“It’s trying to do something which is quiet and it makes you listen and you tune into it,” says Cresswell.

STOMP is the winner of an Oliver Award for Best Choreography (London’s equivalent of a Tony Award); in New York they received an Obie Award, a Drama Desk Award for Unique Theater Experience, and a Special Citation from Best Plays.

The New York Times described STOMP as “Irresistible” and “An exuberant display of physical prowess. The show demonstrates with an entrancing charm the music to be found in everyday objects. STOMP is a sure-fire crowd pleaser which is banged, tapped, swished, clicked and clomped with a rock-and-roll heart.”

McNicholas believes that if there is a message to STOMP it is that one “can” make something out of nothing. Using junk, household and industrial objects, by its very nature, challenges the issue of waste and challenges the notion of culture as highbrow or detached.

“There’s also an element of ritual in our work,” he says. “Everyone generally comments that some of the pieces in the show are almost tribal. STOMP has been described as a musical without music. Even though the show is really just a succession of different pieces, there is an element of getting to know the performers’ character through the show, so it is also about group dynamics and how wildly contrasting personalities can work together.”

Beyond that, it is really down to the attitude of the group. We want to amuse, uplift and inspire. We feel we’ve succeeded when the audience leaves trying to play every object in their path as they leave the theater,” McNicholas concluded.

STOMP will be presented in four successive showings as part of the PCA Great Performances season at Merrill Auditorium, Portland. The shows will take place at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14, at 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16. Tickets are available through PortTix by calling 842-0800, or at the box office at Merrill Auditorium.