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Who do you care about and why? Feel Me is a new interactive theatre show from The Paper Birds, UK leaders in devised verbatim theatre. Feel Me asks, via your mobile phone, who and what you care about from the stories unfolding live on stage in front of you. A stunning mixture of live performance, film, projection, dance and music, Feel Me will explore the different lenses through which we are told, and connect to stories in the modern digital world. Worlds unfold from backpacks, and tents are constructed and dismantled again, each scene and location temporary, like a transient teenager in search of safety, acceptance and a new place to call home. An interrogation of empathy, Feel Me asks what makes us 'feel' for another person, as we journey through landscapes and across borders, through weather storms and paperwork, changing seasons, endless queues and interviews. Feel Me is made by The Paper Birds in partnership with Theatre Centre. A co-production with New Wolsey Theatre. Supported by Padepokan Seni Bagong Kussudiardja and The Point, Eastleigh. Funded by British Council International Collaboration & Arts Council England.| 26 Apr 24 | Norden Farm Centre for the Arts Maidenhead, Berkshire Performance Details => Venue archive |
| 27 Mar 24 to 28 Mar 24 | Greenwich Theatre Outer London, Greater London Performance Details => Venue archive |
| 25 Mar 24 to 26 Mar 24 | Northcott Theatre Exeter, Devon Performance Details => Venue archive |
| 19 Mar 24 to 20 Mar 24 | Mercury Theatre Colchester, Essex Performance Details => Venue archive |
| 27 Feb 24 to 28 Feb 24 | Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough, North Yorkshire Performance Details => Venue archive |
| 22 Feb 24 | The ShowRoom Chichester, West Sussex Performance Details => Venue archive |
| 20 Feb 24 to 21 Feb 24 | Theatre Royal Bath, Bath & North East Somerset Performance Details => Venue archive |
| 7 Feb 24 to 8 Feb 24 | Lawrence Batley Theatre Huddersfield, West Yorkshire Performance Details => Venue archive |
The show tries to build empathy by telling a story of a single displaced person, but does so in an abstract way where the audience never gets to know the character - doesn't quite meet the show's aim. The story is retold multiple times through various art forms, dance, projection, video etc. It feels like a recent graduate has tried to fit all of the techniques they've learned into the show, rather than them being additive. None of the repeated versions add anything to the narrative, except for runtime. Lastly, the use of audience participation via smartphones, lauded in other reviews, is incredibly shallow, it doesn't help us connect with the character or the story. The questions asked of the audience are leading, e.g., you're asked if you feel empathy with forced displacement three times throughout the show - the audience knows the desire of the showmakers is for empathy to increase over time, to not answer in the positive is to be a contrarian. Would suggest going back to the drawing board, and asking what is the objective behind the show - if it's truly about raising awareness and empathy for forced displacement (and not purely artistic grandstanding) then creating a show where the character and their story really shines would be better.
