Gareth's Culture and Travel Blog

I’ve participated in other theatrical pieces where you walk around with instructions coming through headphones. The first was Janet Cardiff’s The Missing Voice (Case Study B) sixteen years ago, where you picked up your headphones from Whitechapel Library and your first instruction from a book within it; an entirely aural experience. The best was five years ago in Edinburgh where you followed a trail with instructions placed at strategic points En Route (it’s title) as well as through your ears. This is my first one with actors, and the first one using an app on your own smartphone.

Once you’ve downloaded the Wiretapper app, you choose your date, pay for the ‘show’ and get the download for your chosen evening. On the morning of the event you are emailed the location where you should be at the starting time, at which time you open the app and begin listening to your instructions.

Told to walk to a nearby location you soon encounter someone who makes himself known to you. It’s dusk and we seem to be seeing a film being made. There are a handful of actors in this busy location. You hear music, sound effects and voices, some connected to live action, some not. Real people, of course, also populate the space. The final scene is another short walk away in a quieter spot where you now see all of your fellow travellers. It’s all over in 50 minutes.

Though it’s a fascinating, somewhat disorientating, other worldly experience, I felt it didn’t have enough narrative and was too short. From a technical standpoint, it’s well executed, but it’s a slight piece that left me wanting more.