We’re All Strangers Here @ Hitcher Encounters Website (Brighton Fringe Festival 2021) Review
With travel options currently limited due to the pandemic, this time has offered the opportunity to plan future excursions, as well as look back on memories formed. Tapping into this human need to embark on many a journey, Hitcher Encounters present We’re All Strangers Here, an experiential project fusing immersive performance with audio clips to present a timely digital piece of work for our technical age.
Divided into four sections, We’re All Strangers Here transports the listener on a much needed global trip to the US, Paris via Manchester, Mexico and India – an ambitious piece of work spanning location and time. As this is an accessible piece of art online, the listener is able to access the 20 minute clips as and when they choose, at their own pace – I quite fittingly choose to listen to these clips whilst on my commute, which instantly adds an air of relatability, making the clips feel live.
The production brilliantly plays on the notion of journeys and travelling and what these experiences mean for people – the sentiment only more pertinent post a year of not being able to travel. Every piece tying in the encounters experienced and how these shape the journeys made. We’re All Strangers Here is calming, it’s a great way of experiencing travel from the comfort of your own home or wherever you choose. Soundscapes and descriptive scenarios guiding the listener’s imagination. The clips have an organic feel to them, as if they’re real life scenarios playing out around you rather than feeling performance-like, adding to the production’s charm.
The piece also includes a phone call, this part of the experience immersive and asking for the participant’s involvement. A creative part of the show calling for the participant to shape their very own adventure, Hitcher Encounters showcase their ambition when it comes to experimenting with tech, and this is exciting. An innovative listen!
Review written by Lucy Basaba.
We’re All Strangers Here is Currently playing on the Hitcher Encounters website, as part of this year’s Brighton Fringe Festival until Sunday 27th June 2021. To find out more about the production, visit here…
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