Getting Spiritual with Mr. Vader

Leo Preston writes: "For about as long as the Meteor festival has been going, I’ve been serving you my freshest, heartfelt shit, and I’ve never looked back... Things have been moving so fast, there hasn’t been much time to reflect! All of a sudden I wasn’t so sure where I was going anymore. Then along came my man Mr. Vader. He’s got control. We’ve been shifting through all that shit from the past decade or so and looking into all the hidden links. Just as we were about to sum it all up with one logo and sell it around the world, we discovered a new wave of chaos, a spiritual vibe... "Getting Spiritual with Mr. Vader" could have been the start of a new sub-cultural movement. Now we’re more interested in the potential significance/insignificance of such a movement."

"A culture of hyper-individualism has thrown the people of our melting plastic empire into an amalgamated culture of mass communication. What was once clear is becoming blurry." Mr. Vader

Leo Preston combines elements of text, film, music, objects and demonstrations to create complex staged commentaries, based on his own experiences. His relaxed style of performing, with elements that are obviously improvised, and the personal nature of the material, give his work a distinctive and engaging quality. This is his second piece to feature a live four-piece band and other performers (in this case Mr. Vader) on stage. His previous works have been received with much enthusiasm from critics and audience alike.

In 2010 a Mexican version of the performance was developed with the title Poniéndonos espirituales con el Sr. Vader. In this version Mr. Vader spoke Spanish, the words were subtitled and the music was performed by a Mexican Doors cover band, The Crystal Ship Band.

Getting Spiritual with Mr. Vader av Leo Preston was supported by the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs/MFA (travel grant/performing arts).

Source:

BIT Teatergarasjen, Meteor 2009. 07.08.2010: http://www.bit-teatergarasjen.no

Leo Preston interdisciplinary artist, leopreston.org/Leo_Preston/Home.html, 23.08.2015, http://www.leopreston.org/Leo_Preston/GSMV.html