Photo by Prae Homsilpakul, from Facebook
You approach the chair. What’s tied to the chair? Oh, balloons. OK! What’s written on the piece of paper that has been stuck to the chair? Instructions. OK! So far, so good, as we are led around the side of the theatre, through a side door, and into the main space.
The audience is immediately confronted by a technological hub in the middle of the room; two projection screens utilising the stark white walls, and, on the main stage, is a suspicious-looking curtained compartment (what goes on behind those curtains?) which piques the imagination. Immediately the restrictive size of the space presents the audience with both a problem and a solution: where do we fit? But, hang on; we are part of the performance. The space (and, of course, the company itself) expects participation.
An ambush, but a pleasant ambush nonetheless.
Whose Cloud is it Anyway? is an attempt to comprehend the digital landscape that exists above all of us. Within vast amounts of data, our social interactions and information increasingly exist in digital clouds.  Whose Cloud invites the unknown – the material is borne out of the performer’s play, improvisation, and constant remixing and questioning of, at times, fragmented narratives.
In doing so, the audience soon realise they are part of this play, as at various points an unsuspecting audience member’s facebook profile dominates one side of the space, confronting them with the information they deem fit for public consumption. Oh, no! Did I really mean to confess my love of Morris dancing, she thought. Too late: there it is, for all to see. Once we had processed the initial personal cringe of exposure and vulnerability, we were invited to embrace this ‘insider’ knowledge: a truffle of information or an amusing anecdote we could all share, revel in and joke about, as the performers wove it into the energetic, improvised nature of their work.
The direction is subtle, and achieved by way of whispers in corners. It is abundantly clear that the performers are pushed hard to make the work for the audience. Having juggled on the suspicious-looking stage (the jig was up – my facebook profile picture gave this away), I left feeling as though the company had created a play with me. I had been a part of something fun that, at times, felt personal. Indeed, standing outside playing with puppets masked with the faces of audience members (thanks again, facebook), it was difficult not to consider just how much is freely-volunteered, or available, as we continue to trust in Google and others as custodians of our information.
For its imaginative, improvised play with the audience, Whose Cloud gets a very hearty ‘poke’.
For more information, follow the company, de.bunked, @debunkedtheatre on twitter, or on Facebook.
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