Margi Brown Ash 4change coaching

This is what i found today on La Boite website (http://www.laboite.com.au/cms/page.asp?ID=13) describing Capital City:

“One by one, audience members set out into the urban surrounds of the Kelvin Grove Village, now an imagined world called Capital City. Armed with a supplied mobile phone, you are charged by city officials to investigate the myths and locals of the city.

You are steered through Capital City by audio logs, flags and other unexpected trigger points. Here lies a community with something to hide. The locals tell one story, the city officials another, and the city itself keeps secrets of its own. At the end of your quest, on the city’s outskirts, you will be asked to take allegiance with one side. Keep a quick wit and focussed eye, for in Capital City, anything can happen.”

I have the delightful opportunity to participate in this experience last week…
I am given earphones.
I am instructed to put them on.
The Voice on the phone does the rest (no not that voice!)

I love being alone
and with a safety net
who is close by if I need him…
especially when i take off in a totally wrong direction.
Toby carefully guides me back on track!

I begin to wander around Kelvin Grove Village as directed by The Voice.

I’m not sure if I should tell you what I did in case I spoil it for you…suffice to say I am totally engaged in the experience. And adore having to deal with a lovely young man coming up to me and saying “Hi, remember me?” while i am engaged in the crucial last step (no he is not part of the show and where are you Toby at this point of negotiation?)

On reflection I can see where Sandra Carluccio and her excellent team will possibly head with this emerging form. There are other companies doing work of a similar ilk e.g. “One Step at a Time Like This”: http://www.onestepatatimelikethis.com/links.html. This link will take you to One Step website as well as links to other companies engaged in this type of work.

I think there is an absolute demand for these unique and boutique ways of theatrical interaction to develop within the everyday, especially here in Brisbane where the weather is brilliant most of the year and the big black boxes we call theatres demand so much investment in money and ‘things’, something most theatricals do not have. Why not use the city as our theatrical space? Who needs lights when there are torches and street lights?

Sandra and her creative team are surely on this path. I see this production as a wonderful beginning. My favourite moments? Surprisingly enough, isolated, being apart from the city but part of the city if you know what I mean.

What do I take away?

The experience of having to ’solve a mystery’.
An awareness of my feet on the cement,
The shadows,
The lack of light,
The excitement of delving into something that needs to be solved… not by characters but by me.

In other words we are required to be embodied.
Something that most black box events do not demand.

What I would love to experience next time? A more developed storyline would engage me even deeper…having just watched a whole series of The Killer (Danish television…so good) i can see opportunities abound with twists and turns at the end which could make our skins crawl!

One thing that was wonderful was the opportunity to reflect on self-in-relationship-to-others.
Am i capable of doing what The Voice is suggesting?

I think we can expect a wonderful development from this special group of emerging artists who understand intrigue so well.

Thank you team!
A really worthwhile experience.

Can’t wait for the next step!