Everybody Loses in ‘The House Never Wins’ (Review)
Kill the Cat Theatre explores climate change through Blackjack
Casinos and climate change are not necessarily natural bedfellows. It’s tough to make the concept of global warming seem dramatic and visceral in the way that gambling can be. It’s that moment of anticipation as a roulette ball comes to a slow stop or a poker player finally shows their cards after everyone else has folded. It’s the infinitesimal possibility of a sudden, eye-popping windfall contrasted with the inevitable agony of going bust and collapsing facedown on your hotel room’s bed, wallet drained. It’s an activity that relies on beating the odds and relies on hope, something that seems to be in short supply these days.
Which is why I find the premise of The House Never Wins so intriguing. A small group of participants dials into a virtual livestreamed casino where they play Blackjack not only for the future of our planet, but also for a real cash prize. The center of the action is a card table which is presented in a top-down view so that we can easily see our hands; there’s a separate webcam pointed at the Dealer’s face (played by Madeleine Allardice, one of the co-creators of the experience). Each player is given ten chips to start and the rules of Blackjack are quickly explained; it sounds like a bog standard game at first, but, of course, things quickly go off the rails from here. And in an interesting turn of events, there is no group-wide chat window in Zoom, merely the ability to private message the Dealer, the House, and the stage manager, forcing participants to communicate verbally with one another.
(Minor spoilers follow.)
So just when you think you know how to play Blackjack, Killed The Cat Theatre throws a wrench into the works each time a round is finished. Some players are suddenly gifted God-like powers and can choose to screw over other players by forcing them to hit or stay. Over time, the youngest players in the Zoom are given an unfair handicap they must work against. In my showing, one enterprising participant even figures out how to steal from the House while another asks to borrow some chips from the richest player. I take a survey about my consumption habits and am informed that it would take two planet Earths to sustain my current lifestyle. I also attempt to bend the rules to fit my will, testing the electric fence for a weak spot. I fail, spectacularly and publicly as the Dealer calls me out for my feeble parlay. There are additional tasks and challenges delivered via WhatsApp that can change the course of the game; these are tucked into a stream of satirical ads promoting an escape to Mars and a water bottle company. I can barely keep up with the barrage of rule changes, let alone the promoted content on my phone.
It’s clear by the end of the rollercoaster of this experience that the game’s rules here are ever-shifting and entirely arbitrary; the results of the show are perhaps even rigged. Are we destined to fail every time? It is, after all, called The House Never Wins. Our Dealer soon announces that we have failed to save the House, and, accordingly, have failed to save the Earth. And, so, now, the previous round of Blackjack was our final round, we will not be entering the bonus round, and no one will be able to compete for the cash prize. All in all, by the time the game ends, a few participants have accumulated a relatively large stockpile of chips but the majority of us have nothing left to our names. But does it really matter if we don’t have a planet to call home?
However, I do find that the experience’s use of Blackjack as a metaphor feels somewhat contradictory and a bit confusing as an observer. As the “face” of the House, the smartly dressed Dealer cheekily derides our bets and comments on our dealt hands. But, it’s that same Dealer we’re competing against during each round and it’s that same House who takes away our chips whenever we go bust. And then the Dealer has the temerity to ask for donations of chips to keep the House afloat between rounds, implying that we should all throw in a few for the greater good. Spoiler alert: we fail to do this as a group. Repeatedly.
And, even though the The House Never Wins experience seems adamant that individual responsibility is of the utmost importance when it comes to saving the planet, the show never broaches the subject of corporate accountability when it comes to climate change. In fact, a report from 2017 states that 71% of industrial emissions come from a group of 100 energy companies [PDF], a relatively small number of organizations, all things considered. And an even newer report from The Guardian in October 2019 revealed that 35% of greenhouse gas emissions can be traced back to 20 fossil fuel companies. So shouldn’t we as individuals be aggressively pushing for change from governmental bodies and commercial interests rather than chastising someone for using a plastic water bottle or eating red meat or getting on an airplane? We’re sent a series of educational links post-show, but I lack a clear call to action, whether it’s writing my governmental representative, signing a petition, or donating to a organization.
That’s the thought I’m left with as I listen to the experience’s epilogue. It’s a lovely monologue about a caterpillar’s messy transformation into a butterfly. I take the tale to mean that the only way out of this situation is through, that we should push on through the difficult bits, since that’s the only way the human race will survive, and that it’s imperative on all of us to take action. But the type of folks who’ll attend an interactive theatre show about climate change probably aren’t the ones who need convincing. Unfortunately, despite how much I enjoyed The House Never Wins, I don’t quite feel like we have the right people in that chrysalis with us.
The House Never Wins continues through August 15 as part of Electric Dreams Online. Tickets are £10.
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