Immersive theatre based on greek mythology and the Trojan war.
Set across two buildings in Woolwich, one hosting Greece, the other one Troy. As the audience walks into the venue, they are handed a mask. They cannot speak for the duration of the show and are granted no instructions. Each must find their own way, build their own experience. There is no one way to experience it. Each act you happen upon ends with at least two possible paths for you to follow. The performance repeats four times, giving the viewer a chance to catch the main narrative.
The set is huge, dark, hazy, and extremely cinematic. The sound a constant thundering drone that intensifies at times to inform that a performance is happening near you.
Having the actors be the only ones with a face, a personality and a clue of the plot created an interesting dynamic within the context of the greek mythology where gods were very much human. They are the ones happening. We are a communal confused crowd, observing, hoping to make the right choice and follow the one that would lead you to the bigger story, constantly anxious that there may be more happening somewhere else that we are not part of.
The concept reminded me of John Cage’s ‘happening’ at Black Mountain College in 1952 where he would stage multiple acts simultaneously across each other so that the viewer could only attend parts of the show at a time, entrusting the audience to put the pieces together and build their own version of the performance through their interpretation.