Engaged and engulfed

Theatre-going, like film-going, is usually a group experience, one in which audience members witness the same series of dramatic scenes at the same time at any specific venue. But once in a while, theatre audiences are offered new choices of experiencing art.

In the Glasgow-based company Cryptic’s “Tales of Magical Realism”, described by its writer, director and designer Sven Werner as “filmic performance installation”, each audience member was given an iPod when they checked in at the Summerhall, a former veterinary studies school. We followed instructions and walked from one room to another, seated ourselves behind deftly adjusted cinematic equipment, peeked through the lens, watched the scenes unfold and listened to the dialogues and narration. In one room, we even had to keep stepping on bicycle pedals to keep the lighting on and the black and white cardboard images moving. 

The experience was highly poetic as well as nostalgic as the audience followed a traveller to a meeting with a mysterious girl at a train station. We were reminded of how theatre and film are both composite arts, comprising not only literary, visual and performing arts but also sciences, and that theatre and film are always close allies.

Another unforgettable Edinburgh Showcase performance was “You Once Said Yes”, by Look Left Look Right, a documentary-theatre company specialising in site-specific performances.

Checking in at the Underbelly Cowgate, I was given a jacket and a bag filled with coins, a mobile phone, a plastic rose, a “Casablanca” DVD and an emergency envelope. I was also asked to name my current life goal then told to walk down the stairs to the street. Over the next two-and-a-half hours, I got to meet and interact with people from many walks of life, credibly portrayed by professional actors.

After walking along the street briefly with a young woman tourist who was trying to find her hostel, a black car pulled over in front of us. The driver asked, “Are you Pawit?” Replying in the affirmative, I got into the car, fastened my seatbelt and was taken on a high-speed ride into a back alley where the driver, who had just stolen a TV from an electrical store, realised that I wasn’t the Pawit he was looking for and kicked me out.

The adventure continued and I had a chance to visit some places I’d walked past and never thought of entering. These included, among others, the Greyfriar’s Kirkyard, where I chatted with a gardener, a Shelter Scotland shop to which people donate clothes for charity and where a store clerk told me she’d been to Bangkok, along with a bingo hall filled with old women, which a real estate agent was thinking of turning into a strip club. 

With a dramatic plot and scripted with enough freedom for the actors to improvise in accordance with the individual audience, “You Once Said Yes” was an ingeniously innovative way to experience and think about the city, its people and, surprisingly, oneself. 

The final scene at a pub provided an intimate musical finale, in which all the details the actors had learned from talking to me were put into a song, and where my favourite alcoholic Scottish beverage was waiting for my arrival.

Both of these engaging and engulfing works reminded us again that although theatre-going remains a group experience and that artists have messages to convey, what matters more to us, the audience, is our own individual enjoyment. It’s also clear that once sheer artistic creativity is supported by private and governmental organisations, it thrives beyond boundaries. 

 

KEEP TRACK OF THEM

< Information about the groups can be found at www.Cryptic.org.uk and www.LookLeftLookRight.com.

 

The writer’s trip to Edinburgh Showcase was supported by the British Council.