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The Review - THEATRE by EMILY ORGAN
Published: 10 July 2009

Real life seen through a headset

LAST SEEN
ALMEIDA THEATRE

I AM not one for audience participation so with a sense of dread I took my seat in the Almeida Theatre for their Summer Festival’s first co-production, Slung Low’s Last Seen.
This is a sonic walkabout show, attempting to merge the fantasy of theatre with the reality of everyday life while exploring modern technology. Thus we are taken on a journey through the streets of Islington, led by our designated “storyteller” as he recounts his life.
You hear the story directly through individual headsets, which, true to form initially failed to work, resulting in the play having to start over, but this somehow heightened the experimental nature of the piece. The use of headsets isolates you from the rest of the audience making it a very intimate and at times unnerving experience.
This provides a wonderful juxtaposition in that you are hearing the story in the most public of places, firmly establishing the point that we go about our daily lives largely oblivious of the people who tread the same path and their individual histories.
The fact that many Londoners failed to glance in our direction despite our Trekkie-style headgear also reinforced how insular many of us are or possibly how truly cosmopolitan London is.
As an experiment this is a fascinating piece of theatre.
The story is not overly important; it is the point behind the story that matters. And in this Low Slung succeeds.
I did wonder whether I would let one of my closest friends talk to me constantly for an hour while we circled the streets of London but perhaps that says more about me than it does about the play.
It turns out I am a participator after all.
July 10 & 11 at 7pm and 9pm; July 12 at 6pm and 8pm
020 7359 4404

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