[fragment]

Before I do what I do now, I used to work as a musician – more specifically, as a Musical Director*. Thus, each Christmas season would be spent in the dark – a dull haze of alcohol, laughing, boredom, sleep, M&S curries and the company of musicians and turns. For the first four years, I mostly loved it. It wasn’t a place to develop ones love of music, indeed music was treated very badly there, but the sociality of pantomime – the liveness – was something I loved deeply then and miss deeply now. 

Anyhoo… Today, some friends kindly took us to see this years panto at our local rep, and it was a curious experience which got me thinking about experience and specifically audience participation in the work I do now and the stuff that I often write about. One of the things I’ve always aspired to do with GameCity is to develop it into an intense, all-enveloping ride for your brain for a few days. Sign away 72 hours to be within our control and be subjected to the most amazing, stimulating ride possible within UK law. Emerge the other side humming with enthusiasm, new ideas and totally invigorated – feel you had experienced something that had left you, just a little bit, changed… We’re some way from doing that as yet, but I’d like to think that there have been a few moments in each year that have come at least hinted at the potential.

So… In a critical culture which is often dominated by the language of film, I was wondering why we don’t make more reference to theatre and other performance art when we talk about games? More specifically, I was wondering how much theatrical conceits are considered in the production of them? Panto is only the most obvious candidate with its heavily telegraphed mechanics : Call and response. Water pistols. Audience transgression onto the stage. Performers transgressing into the audience. Everyone can agree that the proscenium arch is there, which makes it so exhilarating when it’s ignored. Hmmmmm… I’m excited about developing this liveness for the ’09 shows. 

*I’m not making this point out of any kind of pride, more to highlight the dull isolation of the role. The MD is a very different gig to being in the band, which is IMHO far more fun…