School, first dates, Brownie badges, driving exams, failing grade one flute; our lives are a series of tests.
TOOT’s 10 Out Of 10 - at The New Wolsey Studio, St George’s Street, Ipswich, from 7pm tonight - is a comic peek into our absurd world of triumphs and disasters.
Using electric guitars, the raising of hands and chalk on walls, Terry O’Donovan, Stuart Barter and Clare Dunn will put both under the microscope.
“What we’re tapping into is people’s memory of tests, being tested as a child and how that permeates through to your adult life,” says O’Donovan of TOOT, who combine their skills in site-specific work, physical and visual theatre and live music to multi-sensory performances rooted in the everyday.
With a shared love of the absurd, games and music, audiences are brought into their world without scaring them to bits or putting them on the spot; at least not too much.
“A lot of people who say they hate interactive theatre actually come out saying ‘I really enjoyed myself’. We create one-on-one performances in the midst of the show. Sometimes the audience are playing parts... sometimes we’re talking to them, they’re being asked to do things... early on the show there’s a section where the audience play the part of my mum.”
Commissioned by London’s Ovalhouse in 2012, 10 Out Of 10 is the result of research and personal experiences. It enjoyed a successful run as part of the Assembly Festival programme at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013. Tonight’s show at The New Wolsey Studio is part of a national tour.
For more info about TOOT, visit www.tootmaketheatre.org.uk
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