Audium: Random, soothing, surreal…and Kafka-what?
In Woody Allen’s classic “Annie Hall”, comic Alvy Singer beds a pretentious Rolling Stone reporter whose post-coital response was “Sex with you is really a Kafkaesque experience”. I never thought about what she meant by that, as I just assumed it was not flattering. I finally looked it up online, and after the obligatory reference to Franz Kafka, the entry stated, “Marked by surreal distortion and often a sense of impending danger”. Even though I never quite felt danger, that may be the best way to describe going to Audium. It really is a Kafkaesque experience.
I had never heard of Audium until I told people what I’m trying to do as the S.F. Travel Examiner - finding the unique travel destinations in and around San Francisco. Three people, none of whom know each other, responded with the exact same question…”Oh, have you been to Audium?” Clearly, this strange coincidence was an indicator of what could be quite a piece of serendipity, so I needed to go. Audium, as it turns out, is the brainchild of composer Stan Shaff. It takes the form of a circular room equipped with 169 speakers in a variety of shapes and sizes with sounds emanating from all sorts of angles. If you feel there’s a faintly 1970’s-era vibe about the whole venture, that’s because it was built in the middle of that decade. Amazingly, Shaff has been consistently performing his surreal “sound sculptures” two nights a week - just Fridays and Saturdays – for nearly thirty-three years.
Collaborating with sound equipment designer Doug McEachern, Shaff has created a sonic piece unlike any other you would likely hear. Currently previewing AUDIUM 9, it isn’t so much melodic as it is purely sensory in the way he creates aural movements with the sounds flowing and bouncing through the entire space. Shaff is at the controls on one side of the room, and the spectrum of sounds he produces runs the gamut from chattering conversations to mid-century Moog synthesizers to running water to the sounds of children at play. It’s really the randomness that people will find either enthralling or downright frustrating. For me, the experience fluctuated somewhere in-between as I could feel wrapped in a cocoon one moment and then feel like I am being tortured by the Communist interrogators in the recurring nightmare scene from “The Manchurian Candidate” .
When you call for tickets, a recording tells you that the doors open at 8:15 PM and that you must be there by 8:30 PM sharp - no exceptions. From the outside, the theater is unassuming, a brown-paneled box next to the Royal Grounds Coffee House on Bush near Franklin in Pacific Heights. You first enter through a darkened foyer where there are random art pieces strewn about, and in a bit of retro fun, a jar of instant coffee and Styrofoam cups are available for self-service caffeine before the show and during intermission. Now in his late seventies and wearing a dapper sports coat, Shaff himself appears at the portal to the theater to greet the attendees and explain how the show operates. On the night I attended, every one of the 49 seats in the theater, arranged in concentric circles, was filled with people not quite knowing what to expect. The lights are dimmed to a complete pitch black. The only indications of life you can see are some small florescent arrows on the floor to lead the faint-hearted out and the occasional incandescent watch face.
Is it a soothing cacophony…or a jarring concerto of sounds? I still haven’t made up my mind. Regardless, the thoroughly unique show lasts about an hour and a quarter with an unannounced intermission somewhere in the middle, the only indication being the lights slightly raised to benefit the early-to-judge escapees. Once over, I was spent, but as I walked out, there was Shaff politely answering questions in the foyer from both the curious and the overwhelmed. I had to congratulate him personally if not for anything else, for his dedication in shaping his craft for over four decades and giving locals a show truly like no other. I say experience it for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
ADMISSION: $15...either arrive at 8:15 PM and take your chances or call the above number to reserve a ticket
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Audium: Random, soothing, surreal…and Kafka-what?
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