Screwmachine / Eyecandy

It's America's favorite game show, but tonight the rules are a little different. Or are they? Haven't we seen this before? Can two average contestants from the heartland figure it all out before it's too late? "If the political-advertising principle of equal time were applied to entertainment programming, every game show would be followed by SCREWMACHINE/EYECANDY. While the game show as a metaphor for the horrors of consumer culture is somewhat overdone, in the hands of CJ Hopkins the conceit is nothing short of a blistering revelation. Hopkins's body of work owes a huge debt to the absurdists and so manages to blast beyond the merely political or allegorical to the existential. Bits of GODOT and NO EXIT seem present in all his plays." -Trav S D, Time Out New York "If SCREWMACHINE/EYECANDY, playwright CJ Hopkins's latest indictment of American crassness and overconsumption, serves as any indication, our country hasn't learned much ... Hopkins's sharp-toothed satire ..." -Alexis Soloski, Village Voice "As a metaphor for the unaccountable, bullying, shape-changing and fear-mongering face of power in our increasingly media-driven consumer democracies, it could hardly be more potent. One of the angriest and most chilling pieces of political theatre on this year's Fringe." -Joyce MacMillan, The Scotsman "SCREWMACHINE/EYECANDY starts out as one of those eyes-and-teeth American T V game shows but rapidly descends into something much blacker and almost surreal as America's relationship with consumerism and the media is unerringly skewered." -Robert Dawson Scott, The Times "The use of the game show as metaphor for what is politely called the American condition is not a new concept ... The premise has been used in films such as The Truman Show and Magnolia. CJ Hopkins has made brazen use of this metaphor to create a vicious piece of agit prop ... Not only does SCREWMACHINE/EYECANDY beat its audiences harder, but it contains fragmentary glimpses of America's vastness that leave you breathless." -Tim Abrahams, The Guardian