A modern take on ‘The Emperor's New Clothes’, ‘Expösed’ by Baby Lamb Productions puts a new twist on the old fable, keeping true to the message of the story, while making you laugh throughout.
Taking place in Berlin, we follow ‘Ze Emperor’ (Jacob Baird) and his entourage, after a failed fashion show based on household items. Two ‘VIP’ audience members were actually taken backstage to take part in this fashion show, a strong and funny start to the play, setting out what kind of fashion sense to expect from Ze Emperor. We then cut to Ze Emperor himself and his entourage of yes-men with tacky German accents; the stand outs for me being his number one Yanik (Ashok Gupta) (who we never see without a turtleneck), a girl called Alexa (Hannah McLeod) that Ze Emperor believes is a real Alexa, and Johan (Nicholas Alexander), a meat-headed horse-obsessed hunk. After reading that all the critics said their new show was a flop, everyone is distraught, and turns to brainstorming what new ideas could bring them back into the spotlight. Ze Emperor’s only level-headed assistant suggests some kind of clothing based on critiquing fast fashion or in favour of body positivity, which everyone else proceeds to laugh at the sheer audacity. Johan suggests an idea he was sold back in Scotland by two fashionistas: Nü cloth, a fabric so intricately designed, only cool people can see it.
The rest of the story mainly plays out as the fable does: everyone who goes before Ze Emperor to see the cloth is can’t, and as they perform a soliloquy questioning if they’re out of touch with modern fashion, come around to convincing themselves they have to pretend to see it to stay in good favour the Ze Emperor. What really kept were the skits in between the main scenes: Ze Emperor asking Alexa to play him the sounds of the rainforest to relax (which she proceeded to have to do purely by mouth) and Johan explaining to Ze Emperor his incredibly horse-focused life philosophy. These skits really helped make the play more than just as a modern adaptation of an old fable.
As for Ze Emperor himself, following his antics really drives home the kind of man he’s meant to parody: a cocky ‘pioneer’ of fashion who thinks he’s always the smartest in the room and is leading fashion, but who can’t even play chess. My favourite part of his was his constant berating of his only smart assistant, including making fun of her for speaking German (need I remind you that this takes place in Berlin). The story ends with Ze Emperor having learnt nothing, but deciding to keep his assistant around, but this time, to pay her.
The ending, on first impression, certainly made me wonder why Ze Emperor never really learnt his lesson, but thinking about it more, I believe it to be a better take for the ending. Lots of the people that Ze Emperor is meant to parody will make stupid decisions like him, and since everyone around them can back it up or ‘find meaning’ in their work, they get off scot-free. It's a neat, but scathing, final commentary by the play.
Zoe Charlotte Lambe
Overall, ‘Expösed’ manages to deliver gag after skit of quality jokes, while taking the story of ‘The Emperor's New Clothes’ and showing that its message that selling anything as ‘trendy’ or ‘fashionable’ can have it sold out still persists into the modern age. I look forward to whatever else Baby Lamb Productions do with their high level of critique and humour.
Featured image: Baby Lamb Productions
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