Innovative theatre company that brought us Mile End with its play on dynamic staging has gone on to produce this interactive piece where the audience play out the story. Under the narration and instruction from each participant’s headphone, we re-enact the scenes in different rooms in the basement of the Shoreditch Town Hall, may it be a bar/ballroom, dressing room or a hospital.
There are a lot of potential to use this format and create something powerful, playful and even frightening. But unfortunately, this show isn’t any of these. The narrative wanders too often into metaphorical and even metaphysical musing, questioning the reality, the role we play and the format itself. This can be effective if it is fully integrated with more solid grounding such as a story or a character. It lacks atmosphere to properly immerse the audience and what is left is a series of individual scenes, showcasing the possibilities of the format and theatrical tricks. All the ingredients are present to produce something great but it needs more time to develop further.
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