Esme Davis
No set, no props, no script. Just a man alone on stage, with a screen, and an endless number.
Vinay Sagar explains the show concisely as you enter the space. In his show, he counts digits of pie, from memory. The audience can write down challenges for him to complete if he gets numbers wrong, if he doesn’t complete a six-digit round fast enough, or if he somehow fails the previous challenge. At its simplest, that is the show.
When taking it at face value, the work stands strong as a testament to human willpower, dedication and commitment. Vinay offers us an insight behind the scenes, describing his complex and humorous system for remembering the digits, and how they are stored in his memory palace. The more he explains his methods, the more impressive the feat becomes, as he throws out numbers like a genuine human calculator.
This could probably stand on its feet as a show in itself, but the ludicracy is accelerated by the audience’s challenges. The show I saw began with Vinay explaining that in the previous show he was challenged to shave half his beard off at the beginning of the next show. And so that was how my show started – and the audience got to choose which half. We chose the middle. Other notable challenges included two instructions to scream, a staring competition, a game of hide and seek and an order for Vinay to also shave off his eyebrows. Everything was on the table.
There were several rules and features on top of this that gradually raised the quality of the performance. The audience has all the power, with the ability to stop Vinay at any point and make him do a challenge if it so pleases them. We also were able to command him to ‘time travel’. This meant the audience could give him a number in Pi to jump to and he would have to resume his count from there. If Vinay didn’t reach his target of 600 digits by the end of the show, we got to hear a section of a very dramatic, very emotional email he once sent to a girl he liked.
The atmosphere was both minimal and cluttered, an empty stage with all the equipment needed strewn at the front – the box of challenges, paper and pens, and the keyboard that controlled the program projected on the back wall. It all had a rough, DIY feel to it, no fancy lighting and the only sound a ‘2017 summer’ YouTube track. Vinay’s attitude matched this. He comes across as genuinely confused that you, the audience, are choosing to watch this, and each challenge is greeted with a dry judgemental tone. The effect of this is just hilarious. Vinay has literally memorised 10 000 digits of pi and he somehow manages to make it seem like you’re the one making strange life choices. The absurdity of this underpins the comedic value of the show.
10,000 Digits of Pi is a simple, impressive feat of what the human mind is capable of. In this sense alone it is interesting and engaging. Vinay expands this concept with his own comedic talent, creating a bizarre and unique experience that has your full attention from the start and just gets better as he races to achieve his target.
Sometimes you hear an idea that feels like it really should stay as a joke, and Vinay has managed to take that and make it into a show.
Recommended Drink: Hard tequila. It’ll help.
You can catch 10,000 Digits of Pi at Thistle Theatre at Greenside @ Riddles Court and PBH’s Free Fringe @ Banshee Labyrinth from 1-9, 11-16, 18-22 & 25 of August at 22:00 and 01:30. (55/60 mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Lamesha Ruddock
Jasmine Silk
Phoebe Bakker
