Cork Midsummer review: Burnout Paradise combines frenetic workout with audience participation

Irish Examiner

23-06-2025

Burnout Paradise, Pony Cam Dance, Firkin Crane, Cork Midsummer Festival, ★★★☆☆
The metaphorical treadmill of modern living is literally manifested in this frenzied and fun show from Melbourne experimental theatre collective Pony Cam, as part of Cork Midsummer Festival's Australian strand.
Over the course of an hour, four performers (Claire Bird, William Strom, Dominic Weintraub and Hugo Williams) race to complete a series of tasks displayed on a whiteboard — brush teeth, solve Rubik's Cube, wrap a gift, and, for some local flavour, sink a Beamish — all while running on treadmills. If they don't beat their personal best time as a collective, the audience can request a refund.
While these tasks are being completed, they must also make a three-course meal for two audience members, do a performance piece, and submit an online grant application in real time (in this case, to South Dublin County Council). This particular assignment is greeted with knowing laughter by the audience, many of whom one can assume have wrestled with such a document in their time.
Burnout Paradise at Cork Midsummer Festival. Picture: Jed Niezgoda
The audience are invited to help along the way — shoutout to the woman who was tasked with making butter and had to vigorously shake a jar for almost the entire show — while fellow cast member, Laura, dispenses Gatorade on request and also sells merch. It all makes for a heady and chaotic concoction. As a theatrical experience, it is impossible to take it all in — you concentrate on one performer, you miss something that another has done.
You're also out of luck if audience participation isn't your bag — even the ones who don't volunteer are enlisted to play bingo, blow up balloons and hunt for chocolate. On the most obvious level, the show highlights the relentless pressure to survive and thrive, and the toll it takes. Although, as my own heart rate went up and I started to feel panicky, I wondered what watching all of this was doing to my own wellbeing.
There are some beguiling elements which could be more deeply explored in a different setting, such as Claire Bird performing dance competition routines from her childhood, while in a poignant echo, a screen shows her doing the same numbers as a little girl.
In terms of physicality, endurance and effort, it is hard not to be impressed but as the sensory overload mounts, I find myself zoning out. As in real life, the jugglers drop some balls; the grant application is not submitted, the personal best is not achieved, but judging by the standing ovation, I doubt anyone looked for their money back.