The idea of blurring the line between audience and performer is hardly new. From the catharsis of Ancient Greek theatre, which invited emotional identification, to the improvisational spirit of 16th-century Commedia dell’arte, audience engagement has long been central to performance. In the 20th century, experimental theatre pushed this further, dissolving the boundary entirely and handing the act of meaning-making over to the audience.
For the Edinburgh Fringe, interactive theatre and audience participation has often meant forcing the audience into discomfort; shocking and provoking them for cheap laughs and shocks. However, in recent years, a new kind of interactivity has emerged, one that emphasises care, compassion and connectivity.
This year, three shows are putting the audience at the centre of their performance, empowering them to create truly unique experiences around important themes. In I’m Ready to Talk Now, Oliver Ayres brings audience members into their experience of hospitalisation for a solo one-on-one show. Meanwhile, in Thanks For Being Here, Belgian theatre company Ontroerend Goed celebrate the audience through a meticulously crafted piece that moves away from aggressive confrontation toward gentle reassurance. Dutch Kills Theater’s Whisper Walks tenderly takes inspiration from the Japanese Kaze no Denwa (Wind Phone), exploring how memories can be connected to a place and time.
Each of these shows gently breaks down the barrier between audience and performer. Alexander Devriendt of Ontroerend Goed believes “it should always be an invitation,” while Alley Scott of Whisper Walk says, “I feel very strongly that our audience members are our collaborators.” All of these shows are built as interactive pieces from the ground up, with the audience’s active collaboration a core tenet of their performance. Given that the majority of I’m Ready to Talk Now has the audience tucked into a bed listening to a monologue, it would presumably be possible to perform it in a more traditional set up, but Ayres says that “there was never an alternative…it’s just so much harder to connect when you’ve got the lights in your eyes.”
Emotionally, these shows create a different connection with the audience. Whereas traditional theatre may ask the audience to care about the drama unfolding onstage, these performances turn that on its head by showing care for the audience, asking them to embrace vulnerability and making that core to their experience. Given how Ayres opens up for his show, he expects the audience to do the same: “By being vulnerable, I guess they kind of earn this story.” Although these shows are not overtly political, the joy of connectivity and togetherness is a radical act, especially in these polarised times. As Devriendt says, “There are a few people out there who decide the course of the world…but that doesn’t mean we can’t feel connected and trust each other.”
A noticeably contemporary thread across all three shows is their inventive use of technology. Ayres and Dutch Kills rely on pre-recorded audio to build intimacy, while Ontroerend Goed uses video to shift perspective and bend time. Technology as a space for performance is not new, but here it is not a gimmick or a distancing tool. Instead, it becomes a means of forging connection, making its emotional resonance feel especially powerful for modern audiences.
It is striking that each of these performers note how audiences wilfully participate when invited to do so, becoming co-collaborators who define and shape the performance. In both Ayres and Dutch Kills’ shows, audiences pass on their personal stories, whether to Ayres directly or via Whisper Walks’ ‘Whisper Museum’.
In many ways, these performances capture the essential power of theatre, the chance to be part of something entirely unique, shared in real time with other people. No two performances are ever the same, just as no two people and no two lives are exactly alike. These interactive works’ emotional charge comes from acts of care and vulnerability, that feel quietly radical in a world that so often rewards detachment.
I’m Ready to Talk Now, Meeting Point at Traverse Theatre, 3-24 Aug (not 4, 7, 11, 14, 18, 21), times vary
Thanks For Being Here, ZOO Southside, 12-24 Aug (not 18), 1.45pm
Whisper Walk, Meeting Point at Assembly George Square Studios, 2-25 Aug, times vary