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harriet-leitch
15th October 2012

Bordering on insanity?

Harriet Leitch reviews new 360-degree theatrical experience ‘Borderline Vultures’, organised through the Lowry Theatre.
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TLDR

Three Stars out of Five Stars

 

I was greeted by a woman in a white lab coat in the lobby of the Holiday Inn at Media City, just a stone’s throw away from The Lowry. “Thank you for participating in Syntech Solutions assessment programme. Please wait until your name is called and you will be escorted to the testing facility”.  It was clear from the outset that this was not going to be your average night at the theatre.

 

Before I had time to comprehend what form the evening’s entertainment would take, I and several other audience members were whisked away to what looked like a disused office building, apparently ‘Syntechs’’ headquarters.

The evening was a bombardment of signs, symbols, gibberish and the occasional blast of the Rocky Horror shows ‘Let’s do the Time Warp again’.  Belongings are handed over in exchange for a lab coat with an individual identity number and some safety glasses. Then you are directed into one of three doors and here you enter fully into the mad and alternate world that is Borderline Vultures. This 360 degree immersive theatre experience was something like I had never experienced before and will probably never do again.

A man in a lab coat pointed a piece of chalk at me and spoke in an alien language. I was lead to another door and gestured to go down a dark and dingy corridor. I could hear occasional screams, an alarm sounded in the distance and as I tentatively wondered though the deteriorating industrial maze I wondered where all the rest of the audience had gone and what my fate would be.

You are left to interact with the cast and wonder around and the topsy-turvy rooms; some dark, some covered in newspaper. One had monitors where you could watch CCTV footage of all everyone participating in this exciting and weird theatrical experience. There is no explanation and no indication of what to do or what to think. This was almost like real-time piece of contemporary art of some kind which was undoubtedly unique and made me question the boundaries of theatre.

Once you have experienced the whole building, however, you are somewhat left unsure what to do next and there was certainly half an hour too long to wait for the ‘climax’ of the piece which had little continuity with the narrative of the piece thus far. Despite this I award points for the creativity and thought provoking nature of the experience. I was compelled to ponder the ‘big-brother’ nature of today’s society of Facebook, recorded phone calls and constant CCTV surveillance and the new found ways in which we communicate with each other in this digital age.

Think George Orwell’s 1984 meets a funfair madhouse. Within the world of Borderline Vultures the audience are completely free to explore the performing space and interact as much or as little as they choose where each audience member will have their own unique experience. Prepare to be apprehensive as you enter into this insane world. If you are looking for a theatre experience like no other, then this is the ‘performance’ for you.

Borderline Vultures runs until October 28th. See The Lowry Theatre for details.


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