Final post

This final blog post consolidates thoughts and feedback following the showing at Soho, reflections from a subsequent phone call with Paul and Duncan and the brief venue’s post-mortem and final showcase on 12 November.

The most prominent feeling about Theatre Sandbox is one of great pride and achievement – an incredible range of brilliant work was created by what became a true community of artists. Technology was deployed in strange and new ways, and was importantly demystified, placed in the hands of artists and audiences in order to enhance story-telling and engagement. Working in theatre, the possibility always exists for major delays, bumps in the developmental road, clashes between creatives or just dead-end’s and I am struck by the fact that none of these problems seems to have beset the Sandbox projects.

There has also been some excellent press and publicity which makes a huge difference.

From our project, I take away the unforgettable sense of wonder at the first lightings of the map, the poetry of the authored texts, the intimacy of the relationship between guide-guided, and the incredible atmosphere of dreaming, contemplation and wandering the city as though in a film. Also, the rain, the sodden-ness of the paper, the glitches and pitfalls of the technology, the cumbersomeness of carrying paper, projector, umbrella, Nokia pack. We talked about elements we felt were utterly essential to the project: live performance, walking, sound, Soho, and a consideration of geography and time. We debated how drawing and the use of a networked map is intrinsic to the impact and interaction of audiences; how to affordably continue experimenting with performers and technology; and we asked difficult questions about what the piece would be WITHOUT the use of media, WITHOUT live performers, WITHOUT maps, and WITHOUT Soho as a setting.

Questions that linger: How best can our venue support this work? Are there ways of making a project like this accessible to more people more easily? How is this kind of work marketed and presented to audiences, indeed, is it intended for audiences as we know them? Can artist and venue have the same idea of success, in the spirit of inquiry and innovation but with the audience at the heart of the experience?