Handle With Care - Northern Arts Review
Ontroerend Goed at the Leed’s Playhouse
Handle With Care - Northern Arts Review
I’m not sure at what point in our lives people stop asking each other if they want to play. Ten? Eleven? There is probably something in pre-teen anxiety that makes us think that finding a kindred spirit and simply exploring together is stupid. Or cringe. We’re young, so we can be forgiven for not knowing what we give up when we decide that passively observing, waiting our turn, holding back and keeping to ourselves is the way forward. It is rediscovering what we have lost that sits at the heart of Ontroerend Goed’s audience-led production, Handle With Care.
The show truly begins as we’re waiting outside the doors of the Bramall Rock Void, sharing a feeling of excitement and a little trepidation. We’re there to engage in a show built on audience participation and it feels a little like our first day at school. We scan the crowd, sizing each other up. We know that by the end of the hour, we will have experienced something special together, something that will bring us closer. And we wonder which friendly face will be that other new kid who meets us on the edge of the playground and asks us if we want to play.
Ontroerend Goed, a Belgian ensemble who have been sending audiences into productive discomfort since 2007, conceived Handle With Care as the third piece in a trilogy their artistic director, Alexander Devriendt, calls An Hour Spent With Others. The concept and creation are credited to Devriendt, Karolien De Bleser, Samir Veen, Leonore Spee and Charlotte De Bruyne, with design by Nick Mattan and Edouard Devriendt. The premise is minimal. Leeds Playhouse receives a box in the post, places it on a stage, and from that moment forward, everything that happens next belongs to the audience.
As soon as we walk in, we know we’re in Wonderland because, like Alice, we find a cryptic note waiting for us. It says that the show will begin when one of us opens the box. We look to one another, feet shuffling with anticipation and maybe a little anxiety. Who will open the box? Should I open the box? Or is that too bold? If I open the box, will I be taking an opportunity away from someone else? Suddenly, who I am – and who others perceive me to be – hinges on whether I choose to step forward.
To see my full review, please visit Northern Arts Review
See you in the shadows my loves,
Sean x
