Human intimacy, Alien contact, and unholy marriages
Private View by Restless Dance Theatre
Like: A sumptuous set and costume design and a perfect (for me) balance between dance and theatre. I absolutely loved the Cabaret singer who played the role of the Spirit of Intimacy, tempting, enabling and supporting the performers on their quests for love and touch.
Learning: Cleverly placed audience participation half way through (in the form of an Intimacy Hotline) that was both safe and gently challenging, and the warmth and generosity of the performers, meant that it was easy to invite the audience to stand up and dance at the end and create a shared moment of joy. Hard to do and very successful!
Future Cargo
Like: Hypnotic dancing aliens. What is not to like? Absolutely loved this experience. So enjoyed the look and tone of this weird, beautiful and funny dance-theatre-somethingelse work. A totally original space for a dance piece - an unseen conveyor belt in a semi-trailer shipping container. The sound design, experienced through headphones, was also amazing. Fun, funky, hypnotic, surprising and sometimes sexy.
Learning: Blending of genres is wonderful. As someone who write very “wordy” plays, I would like to try to lean more into imagery, sound, found recordings, movement - I want to start making in a more collaborative way!
The Inflatable Church
A pop-up church, a maybe-drunk preacher, a shipping container full of wonderfully hideous wedding costumes, and a pack of bridesmaids and revellers ready to cheer you on. You can book for a wedding party of up to four people and unlawfully marry whoever you like! My almost-five is obsessed with weddings at the moment, with a very limited understanding of what they are, so what a dream come true that she could marry her mum in a pile of lace and plastic flowers and glitter.
Like: Joy, silliness, dressups and glitter! A simple and fun premise that made it easy for anyone to join into the interactivity of the event. There was even a wedding photographer to capture the magic! I absolutely loved getting to do all the best parts of a wedding in such a fun and silly way.
Learning: This was a very accessible “immersive arts” experience. It was well supported, the premise was easily understood, it was fun, and there wasn’t a big ask of the participants other than to choose a silly costume.
