Bang-Up Entertainment -- `Stomp' Returns To Seattle With Percussion Inspiration From The Rhythms Of Daily Life (There's Even A Kitchen Sink)

--------------- THEATER PREVIEW ---------------

"Stomp"

Opens Tuesday and runs Tuesdays-Sundays through Jan. 18, 5th Avenue Theatre, 1308 Fifth Ave., Seattle; 206-292-ARTS.

Call it revenge of the noisy kids.

For every child - and former child - who's ever delighted in banging on pots and pans, who's been told to "QUIT MAKING SO MUCH NOISE!" there is "Stomp."

The members of "Stomp," the explosive, British-bred percussion show, get to pound on more than pots. They also get to bang on kitchen sinks, wheel rims, brooms, garbage-can lids and, oh, so much more.

And they get to do it all around the world. "Stomp" began as a group of buskers performing at festivals around Europe. Now there are three "Stomp" ensembles in the United States (one ensconced in the Off-Broadway Orpheum Theatre in New York City and two touring groups) and one "Stomp" group in Europe.

Who knew that banging a few pans and sweeping the floor could become such a phenomenon?

"It gives life to rhythm," says Stomp-er Matt Pollock, 30, trying to explain the show's appeal. In each show, eight cast members use everything from brooms to the Sunday New York Times to create different musical textures and rhythms. "Because it's rhythm and has no spoken word in it, it's universal.

"We all beat on (stuff) as a kid, and some of us still do as adults," Pollock says. "But people become blind to it, and the show kind of enlightens people to the rhythms around them. All of the sudden, people will be walking down the street or doing dishes or sweeping floors and realize the rhythm of it."

Pollock, who got the percussive bug early ("I've always been beatin' on things. The washing-machine spin cycle would go and I'd be jammin' on top of it."), is now artistic supervisor of the U.S. "Stomp" groups. He helps the "Stomp" founders keep an eye on the shows, making sure they're still fresh. Pollock spoke by phone from Honolulu, where one of the "Stomp" groups is performing. He was hired into the first American "Stomp" cast - the one in New York - in 1994 and performed in the show for a year and a half. Then he joined a U.S. touring group before signing up with the British cast for a tour of Europe and Japan.

The show takes people with varied performing backgrounds: actors, drummers, dancers. Pollock has a theater and dance background. "The drummers learn from the actors and dancers; the dancers learn from the drummers and so on," Pollock says. "Everyone gains from everyone else's strength and mixes and matches."

"Stomp" was founded by Brits Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, two longtime artistic collaborators who got their start busking. In 1981, they formed a group called Pookiesnackenburger, a music/performance group, that was a sort of precursor to "Stomp." "Luke was a drummer," Pollock says. "He didn't like the fact that drummers were stuck behind a kit in the back. He started bringing it out front, taking it to the street."

In 1991, when Cresswell and McNicholas came up with the concept of mixing music and rhythm and theater into a group called "Stomp," friends from their previous projects signed up. The original eight cast members are now back in England and still do special gigs with "Stomp." Cresswell and McNicholas are currently involved in other projects: They scored a Showtime cable film called "Riot" and they're hoping to create a feature film (their 1995 short film, "Brooms," garnered an Oscar nomination).

When "Stomp" played in Seattle at the 5th Avenue Theatre in 1997 and the Moore in 1996, both shows sold out. For its third Seattle engagement, there will be three new numbers and small changes in old numbers, Pollock says. "We do things to keep things fresh. You're still going to get rocked out. You're gonna want to get up and dance."

---------- QUICK FACT ---------- `Stomp' stuff

A sampling of materials used by "Stomp" in one week:

-- 20 brooms.

-- 40 gallons of water.

-- five Sunday New York Times.

-- 30 pounds of sand.

-- seven mop heads.

-- 10 garbage-can lids.

-- six ball-peen hammer handles.

-- four wheel rims.

-- six Ace bandages.