Give me back my broken night

Most people are familiar with the concept of a historic walk – a guide will usually accompany a group of people on a tour of significant historic landmarks, and also provide information about how the landscape has changed. Our imagination is piqued by curiosity about lost buildings, structures and landmarks, and we try to formulate a picture of things that no longer exist. Many of us will have been on this type of walk, but not many of us will have taken a guided tour of the future…

As part of Theatre Sandbox 2010, Duncan Speakman and Uninvited Guests developed Give Me Back My Broken Night; a guided tour of the possible futures of Soho. Each audience member was given a lightweight digital projector and a piece of paper. The device would project a map onto pieces of paper as the audience were taken on a tour of Soho, guided by performers known as ‘ghosts of the future’. Members of the audience would describe what they imagined Soho to look like in years to come, and right before their eyes their visions would appear on the map. As the audience followed the performers, the map would re-draw itself in real-time. At the end of the tour, audience members would meet and view each other’s maps, which were then assembled to present a big picture of the collectively determined future.

View the Project Film on DShed.