101

121329 original

101 by ONEOHONE Theatre Co. limits itself to one room but seeks to include its audience in the action. Performing four shows a day each based on a different classical drama, part of the fun being not knowing what you'll be seeing.

The room in which it is set is extremely unsettling – a feeling made worse by the white bands, distributed with the instructions to remove them if the performance proves too much and participants wish to leave. For we are participants rather than spectators. The actors do well to ensure this, splitting the audience into two groups before encouraging punters to chant and sing lines of text with them. Eventually one side is even persuaded to take part in rudimentary stage fight with the opposite group, albeit a contactless one. It is in moments like this that the concept is most successful.

The production is less successful in integrating the classical text into the performance. As amusing as it to play theatrical charades, once it becomes clear what it is we are performing, it’s not obvious why it benefits from being presented in this way. If anything, it diminishes the sense of immersion they develop so well. Getting this sort of drama right is not easy and ONEOHONE do manage to involve their audience in producing an inventive piece of theatre.