Showing @ Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, Edinburgh until Wed 07 Aug (not 05) @ 11:30
Imagine a theatre full of strangers sharing an hour and leaving as friends. It is a testimony to the ingenuity of the concept behind When We Embraced that the audience exits feeling they know the strangers around them. It is, of course, an illusion, but a very clever and convincing one.
Tom Walton, the show’s creator, has set out to put the audience at the heart of the performance and he succeeds to a degree rarely witnessed. Here the viewers become the performers, and audiences should attend expecting to participate. However this form of interaction is not about humiliation or intimidation, but rather an affectionate vehicle that Walton uses to demonstrate the mystery, complexity and beauty inherent in human beings.
To spell out the content of this show would be to spoil it – and it seems likely to change with every audience as well. But When We Embrace should be viewed as an experience rather than as purely theatre, and those who embrace the concept should leave feelings uplifted and enlightened.
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