“Friends, lovers, street-fighting men, canterous jackanapes,” is how Kirk (loudly) describes the theatre company Rude Mechs. He should know; he is one of the members in the group. But what the hell are ‘jackanapes’?

Part of this year’s World Theatre Festival at the Brisbane Powerhouse, Rude Mechs are presenting their show ‘The Method Gun’ which almost defies description. The members of the group don’t fare much better when attempting to explain what the show is about. Kirk panics and shouts, “OH GOD. DON'T EXPECT IT TO BE GOOD. You know how a new album will come out and everybody will say how great it is so that by the time you hear it, its okay-ness or even its goodness is wasted on you because you were told to expect the second coming? We’re performing a theatre piece. It’s good. We stand by it. But it’s not gonna pay your rent.”

Lana ponders then says, “Mmmm, so the play is about a company of actors that lost their guru, Stella Burden, and essentially how they handled that loss.” It sounds like heavy material, should we expect a night of intense soul-searching and is it B.Y.O tissues? Lana laughs at this and adds, “Audiences should expect us to toy with the fourth wall a bit, to laugh a bit. We don't take ourselves very seriously, but we are serious about making sure audiences feel taken care of and that we are taking them with us on the ride.”

Confused about what we’re actually talking about? The show’s blurb goes like this, “Experience physical theatre at its most fun. This show explores the extreme teachings of Stella Burden, actor-training guru of the 60s and 70s, whose method ‘The Approach’ aims to add sex, death and violence into every moment on stage. That is, until she mysteriously disappears into the South American jungle leaving her fervent followers distraught.” So who exactly is this mysterious Stella that this show is all about? Thomas, another member of the troupe pipes up confidently and clarifies nothing, “It’s hard to say.” Lana is even more baffling with her response of “exactly”.

But uncertainty, confusion and exploring the unknown are often what theatre is about and Rude Mechs have become experts are turning audiences expectations upside down and inside out. To do this takes effort, dedication and planning. Lana points out that, “everyone performs, directs, acts, makes costumes, designs and operates light and sound. It's very flat and we like that. We wanted to avoid top-down hierarchy as much as possible and decided to have a minimum of five Co-Producing Artistic Directors at all times, to create our plays collaboratively, and to operate artistically and administratively by consensus decision-making. We are a very process(minded) company. We talk through everything and we do our best to make sure everyone feels heard.”

Kirk explains it from a slightly different angle, “Everyone wants to make the best work. We don’t compromise. We don’t vote. We talk it out. And yet I think if you could drag race decision-making policies, we can come to a strong consensus more efficiently. We stick together because we like each other and we don’t let little things, like hating each other, get in our way of our friendships.” He pauses here and then adds quite seriously, “Also, there is a feeling that we haven’t made our best work yet.”

‘The Method Gun’ by Rude Mechs is part of this year’s World Theatre Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse with shows Feb 22 - 26.