What can audiences expect from While We Were Waiting… Something Changed?
On this one-hour guided liminal journey, starting and ending at Contact, your phone will transform into a portal to an alternative reality, where the boundaries between the natural and supernatural, the languid and wakeful, and the “no longer” and “not yet”, are blurred, and charged, as CYC explore the rite of passage from adolescence to adulthood. Expect to expect to expect…
What actually is a ‘pod walk’?
To say a ‘pod walk’ is an audio-visual video journey experienced via your phone would not quite do it justice, as it feels more like your phone, at the touch of your finger, becomes a portal to several alternative realities. For my fellow technophobes: I never imagined I’d be Assistant Directing a virtual show, especially with my inability to stare at screens for long periods of time due to a neurological condition I have, but this show is an exception in that it is made accessible and exciting.
How has teaming up with Gob Squad Collective on this project been?
I’m a big D.I.Y advocate, I’ve been raised to “use what you have and make it work”; something Gob Squad are renowned for in their work, so it’s been a real treat to experience first-hand how class practitioners, (such as the director: Sarah and the guest facilitators), can approach making magic from minimalism.
How has your experience been working as the Assistant Director on this performance?
As CYC alumni, it’s been special, a decade later, to get back in that yellow rehearsal room (space three) and have a license to play again. The cast have been a dream, they’ve been super receptive to anything being thrown at them and the ideas they’ve come up with have been superb, it’s been a joy to see them warm into the process, open up as individuals, and work in such harmony as a team; something I think really shines through in the show. It’s beautiful to witness. Having autonomy in a directorial sense, particularly in having the space for my own creative ideas to manifest into reality, (or several in this case I suppose with them being ‘podwalk’ realities), has been quite validating in that I am being trusted to produce something good, and I like the challenge.
And finally, what’s up with the clowns?
Clowns, amongst many things, are a symbol of the reversal of “normal” order, appearing, throughout history, in significant transient spaces: funerals, birthdays, theatres, etc. Court jesters were socio-psychological figures of expression, transcending traditional societal norms, and charged by that line between “allowed” and “not allowed”, servant and antagonist, dumb and genius, and so on. CYC, in this show, are charging a similar line; a line that explores a rite of passage from adolescence to adulthood, that acts as a sort of red thread of a journey that the audience are guided through.
What’s on
Find out more about the show While We Were Waiting… something changed and book your tickets here. The show runs from Thursday 28 July until Saturday 30 July. Free with a Contact Membership.