Until November 7th, Alley Theatre, in partnership with Good Night Out Vancouver, presents #whatnow. The simple and creative docu-theatre production brings the focus to the moving and thoughtful dialogue on stage at Russian Hall.
The #whatnow script is assembled by co-director Marisa Emma Smith from hours of audio interviews from people of different genders, sexual orientations, cultures, ages and abilities these real life stories and reflections around the #metoo movement. These interviews are anonymously relayed to the audience through the unique headphone-verbatim style, an innovative format where edited audio interviews are played through headphones to actors on stage. The actors then mimic and repeat what they hear, in real time, every cough, stutter and hesitation is reproduced, and the actors never “memorize the lines”.
The benefit of headphone-verbatim is the focus becomes the story and allows the audience to really hear the words. While the interviewees’ names remain anonymous, after each story is replayed the audience is told a bit about the person and their background. This allows the audience to take in the story clearly and without making any assumptions – that we are all guilty of making – about the interviewee. As the five performers, Sabrina Symington, Yvonne Wallace, Patrick Dodd, Emily Grace Brook and Siobhan Sloane-Seale relay the stories, their every movement is choreographed by co-director Amber Barton to highlight but not steal attention from the content. Everything about #whatnow keeps the focus on these moving and compelling stories, and allows them to be carried beyond the stage as the audience continues to ponder the question. After #metoo, #whatnow.
Part of the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, #whatnow continues at Russian Hall until November 7, 2021. Seating is limited, so purchase tickets to this worthwhile show soon.
Performance times; Wednesday-Saturday, 8pm & Sundays, 3pm.
Socially Distanced Cabaret Seating, masks and proof of vaccination are required.
Runtime is approximately 80 minutes.
Tickets are available online alleytheatre.ca