Recently I went to see a theater performance by ITSAZOO Productions titled Hidden. Hidden is a horror-mystery story about the murder of three UBC friends who never came back from the forest, each of them found the next day with their heads cut off. As with many of their works, it was a very interactive experience.
The story itself was extremely intriguing – both its plot as well as the set up of the whole production. The details of its vivid plot drew me in, especially the unique presentation of the histories of the each individual character. I felt like I was a part of the story, that I was immersed, from the very beginninng of this mystery. Watching the story unfold and seeing the interweaving of the story, your imagination fuels this experience. What happened to these characters? Why did it happen? Also the complete plot twist at the end will blow your mind!
Then there was the setup of the action in the play itself. The whole production was very mobile. We started by driving from a pub, to the forest where the ‘actual story’ took place. There, we walked along a suspended bridge, and re-traced the events prior to the murder as if they were happening again – this simultaneously gives you the feeling of being an omniscient, external presence in the story, as well as an active, internal presence experiencing it. At some points, you yourself, along with the crew, also become a part of the story, so in a way you feel like the story transcends from performance, to reality. Many different mediums for communicating story information are used as well, such as newspapers, audio recordings and the acting performances, so they employed a lot of versatility.
I am personally not someone who is often/easily scared, or even ever for that matter, but I can admit that this production got my heart racing a couple times. And despite some initial skepticism I may have had about going in the beginning, in the end I was very happy I went because I thoroughly enjoyed and felt engaged by this show, and I would definitely go see another one of their productions!