Published: 11 March 2010
by SARAH BALDWIN

“FOLLOW the instructions carefully. Speak clearly and loudly. Feel free to improvise.”

So read the instructions for GuruGuru, the latest production by Rotazaza. In this hour-long play, audience members become the actors. It is as live and unrehearsed as theatre can get.

A rickety lift, lit only by a bare strip light, is the entrance for the bizarre show. It shuttles you down to the basement of the theatre where, as the “cast”, you are issued with a new, name-tagged identity. You take your seat in a bright room around a dated television set, plug in your headphones and the play begins. This is an intense exercise in audio instruction. Through your  earpiece you are given information about who you are and instructions on what to do and say. The play examines how we rely on conditioned responses and how our thinking is programmed. 

This is the thrill of performing GuruGuru. To begin with you don’t know who or what you are, what the situation is or what on earth you’re doing there. This identity crisis is quickly countered by very basic conversation; relationships and a narrative thread into place as you follow pre-recorded instructions.

At the start it feels very unnatural, as you shout out random phrases and try to make the eccentric gestures. But as the hour goes on, it becomes less and less strange. You quickly find yourself adding a touch of your own flavour. But just a touch, which is to the point; the play shows how good we are at following orders. 

Rotazaza call this oddly compelling DIY performance method “autoteatro”. As each show can have just five people, it might be a sell out this season. 

Until March 28 • 08444 77 1000