Rochester Fringe Festival 2025
The Velvet Noose: Stampede of One: The Musical
The Velvet Noose
Genre: Absurd Theatre
Venue: MuCCC
Festival: Rochester Fringe Festival
Low Down
The Velvet Noose is highly stylized, avant-garde physical poetry. A multidisciplinary troupe, well-regarded in its unique approach to storytelling.
Review
The Velvet Noose returns to Rochester Fringe for another memorable performance: Stampede of One: The Musical. This unconventional theatrical display challenges the audience to pay close attention and feel the themes of the work throughout the hour. This show is in high demand, as it was sold out well before showtime.
The set for this production is fairly simple: a lamp lying on the floor, a large frame, and a painting. Part one begins with hooded figures dragging bodies in bags to the front of the stage. The theater is extraordinarily dark, making it challenging for the audience to see these characters in great detail. This choice is made with great intention, allowing for unique lighting cues to highlight key aspects of the performance, such as using the lamp and a light dangled around one performer’s neck.
Between performances, the artists pause for applause from the audience. We’re given an applause sound cue that lasts uncomfortably too long, and are encouraged to clap and cheer. The performers engage with the audience, thanking them for coming. This eventually leads to the second set.
The remainder of the night offers the audience a tonal depiction of the performers’ preparation for a show. We hear an announcement that the Velvet Noose show will begin in half an hour. There’s one performer off to the side getting ready for a performance. Another spills feathers all over the stage. A third is captured in a picture frame, and a fourth draws on large sheets of paper. This half of the show is guided by sound and action. Background music of slow piano and laughter, the banging of knocking and voices backstage calling in, the use of memorable props, such as a giant present, masks, and a silver platter. The performers convey mood through little dialogue, but instead in their highly performative movement and song.
If you are looking for a clear narrative, this show may not be for you. The Velvet Noose demands the attention of its audience to take a deeper look into the intentionality behind each choice, since nothing seems to be a given. Overall, if it piqued your curiosity, it is worth giving a try.
