Fight! – A disappointing experience

ONLY SLIME attempts to transfer the world of video games to the theater stage in "Fight!", but stumbles in its own ambitions.

After the experimental performance "Psychic", the theater group ONLY SLIME and director Tani Dibasey are back with a new performance at Det Norske Teatret. This time with a more ambitious concept: What happens when you try to translate the video game format into performing arts? The result is "Fight!", an experimental and interactive performance that puts generations in battle, both literally and metaphorically. With audience voices, fight sequences and a clear social critical message, "Fight!" had the potential to be something completely new and exciting. Unfortunately, the ambitions were greater than the execution. From technical problems to confusing direction, the performance ended up as a chaotic experience, characterized by anything but a will to fight.

“Fight!” is an intense and interactive theater performance that deals with the conflicts between generations, with a special focus on the character Mette, who represents the older generation. Mette, known as “The Gen Z Destroyer”, has been a fighter for 50 years and sees today’s youth, especially Generation Z, as weak and overly emotional. According to Mette, today’s young people are too preoccupied with their own emotions and need to toughen up to face the harsh realities of life. The concept for Fight ! was that each night an individual character was chosen, and each character had their own story. However, the night I was there, the QR code was not working, so Tani Dibasey pointed out Mette, making her the evening’s fighter. The audience then got to choose which characters to “fight” against Mette, and it provided an intense and chaotic experience where each meeting between the generations revealed different views on strength, vulnerability and what is “a problem”. 

As the battles develop, it becomes clear that Mette is challenging the other characters, with her strict, controlled view of life. A personal conflict between Mette and her daughter comes into focus, where the daughter tries to explain her problems with bullying and mental health, but is rejected by Mette, who believes she just needs to toughen up. The conflict between mother and daughter becomes a symbolic battle of strength and vulnerability, and the play develops into a philosophical discussion about what it means to be human, how generations view life, and what really is “good enough.” 

Predictable and too little fight 

Although Fight! had some interesting elements and a clear attempt at social criticism, I have to say that I was quite disappointed. The play felt repetitive, almost every scene was a variation of the same thing: Mette, who appears as a kind of "bad guy", tells the others to toughen up, and each character shows that they have their own difficult struggles. It became quite predictable in the long run, and in the end I just sat there waiting for something new that never came.

I had been looking forward to a performance with actual physical combat, but most of it was talk, and unfortunately quite stagnant. Once there was combat, there were only three characters who actually "fight", and that was a bit too little when the play is called Fight! . It's theater, so it should have been possible to choreograph more convincing and exciting fight scenes, especially when it's in the title.

Compared to Psychic (which I wasn't too keen on either ), Fight! was a slight step up, but still not as good as I had expected. It's clear that it's the same director, both in style and in how the message is pushed a little too hard through dialogue rather than action. A lot is said, but little is shown in an engaging way.

The play tries to say something important about mental health and social media, including through Tani Dibasey's character who encourages young people to love themselves and seek help. At the same time, this is criticized through Mette, who believes her daughter does not need a psychologist because she is not "sick enough". This is probably intended as social criticism, but it all became a bit messy and difficult to follow. I also struggled to know who was talking at any given time, simple steps could have made it much easier to keep up.

One of the most absurd and incomprehensible things in the entire show was when a man suddenly appeared wearing only a banana costume and a wig. It was a strange choice that neither seemed well thought out nor artistically justified, and became even stranger when I recognized the move from Psychic. It felt more like a repetitive gimmick than an actual theatrical move, and it distracted rather than added anything.

On the more positive side, it was a fun detail that Claudia Cox and Toby Pfeil, known from Psychic as “Psychic” and “System” respectively, showed up and sat and played “The Game.” It was an interesting move that gave the feeling that we as the audience were also participants in the game, a smart and somewhat subtle way of commenting on the themes and perception of reality.

The symbolism of Mette almost “killing” everyone around her is clear, and the closing line “I am Mette, and this was my fight” suddenly took on more meaning at the end. It became clear that her fight was really about understanding that all problems, big or small, are real and worth taking seriously. It was a good ending, but it came after two-thirds of the way through with a lot of hustle and bustle and little progress.

All in all, this was a rather dull theatrical experience. It started out promising but quickly fell apart, and while the message was important, the path to it was unnecessarily long and messy.