This show from Camden Collective delivers an incredible sucker-punch of emotion.. It’s a narrative… of where we are at, as humans in a politically volatile world.
This experience is heightened incredibly well by an accompaniment of beautifully terrifying music and sound texture, designed by world-renowned sound artist AJ Turner.
It is a piece of performance art, a stark reflection of humanity in present day which holds up the dark image of the situation in which we find ourselves on the world’s stage.
The narrator Sam Rees starts to comment on the surroundings within the venue, and the objects on the stage and the auditorium. The effect of this theatrical device is to bring the audience into focus with him and his musical assistant, and to entice us to concentrate on the present moment.
This show works very well if you trust the performers, and actively listen; thus allowing the narrator to take you on a journey with your imagination. The music starts very simple, and it builds.
There are also some very dryly humorous chapters in this apocalyptic fable, however the underlying darkness is the bedrock of the narrative. Sensitively played by AJ Turner, some of the sound design is is quite disturbing.
Turner uses a clever combination of real instruments with digital sequencing to complement the narrative. The message seems to be that we all should be aware of the underlying message because we are all in it together.
And we are reminded of this in Rees’s driving narrative. My only question is whether having the book on stage, on a stand, is absolutely necessary. I would have expected the spoken word to be direct from the mind of the creator without any script onstage. Gameplay is a brilliant piece of experiential theatre. I look forward to seeing where Carmen Collective takes this piece next.
Gameplay: Pleasance Dome, 14.40, until August 31
