Ontroerend Goed- Audience

This Flemish company was on the " go and see, you may not have the chance again" and I'm glad I did. Having said that, it was not for the faint hearted, and a highly disturbing piece of work. Ontroerend Goed, I have discovered, is a play on words, meaning "Feel Estate" and their work takes the concept of Forced Entertainment, and pushes it out. The audience are secretly filmed entering the auditorium, and,once seated are informed of the usual rules of theatre attendance. We are then slowly filmed by a camera on stage, our faces appearing on a huge screen behind the cameraman.We become the subject matter.

Audience is about group behaviour, about norms and boundaries, and how far a pack mentality can go. It was prescient- about gangs, what is acceptable, what is not. A young woman in the audience is picked on by the actor, and berated. She is asked to do something she doesn't want to do and all the while the camera settles on her. The audience are encouraged to goad her. we are then told off for not supporting her. Its not often I find myself wanting to be near an exit, but this was one of those occasions.

However, after this incident, controlled by the company and pushed as far as it could go without causing a total walkout; I found it a fascinating piece of interactive theatre, cleverly edited and designed to provoke thought about how leaders can control crowds and challenges our own emotions about what is, or not acceptable crowd behaviour.

Now I understand the new "rules of theatre", I would go back, and engage. Not for rural touring, but certainly glad I saw them. I would follow their work, but would always go ready for a hard time, and make sure there's a stiff drink available afterwards. This company make Forced Entertainment look like PlaySchool.