Interactive storytelling as part of Future Everything 2015.
Interactive storytelling pioneers Blast Theory have teamed up with the Royal Exchange Theatre to present the world premiere of Too Much Information – a citywide audio walk through the streets of Manchester which uncovers a series of funny and frank conversations between a group of young people and a group of over 60s, drawn from across Greater Manchester, Bury, Salford, Stockport, Rochdale and Trafford.
The brainchild of Blast Theory, who make interactive artworks designed to provoke audiences to question their place in society, Too Much Information has a specially composed score by Martyn Ware of The Human League and Heaven 17 fame and has been created in partnership with the Royal Exchange Theatre’s Truth About Youth programme.
From Friday 27 February to Saturday 1 March participants will set off from the Royal Exchange on a 45-minute walk – guided by a smart phone – to discover the audio secrets of the two groups. Posing some seemingly awkward questions, Blast Theory Artist Ju Row Farr and Associate Artist Niki Woods will create the work over a series of three intense workshops with two groups from the Royal Exchange. The two groups have never met and under normal situations, would be highly unlikely to otherwise have such personal conversations with each other.
Too Much Information explores expectations of young and older people and looks at different life experiences and what can be enjoyed and learned from people at different points in their lives.
Presented as part of FutureEverything 2015, the pioneering digital culture festival which returns for its 20th anniversary edition 25-28 February, this is the second piece of work Blast Theory has created in partnership with the Exchange’s Truth about Youth programme. It follows from 2013’s live interactive documentary My Neck of the Woods. Previous Blast Theory collaborations with Future Everything include Uncle Roy All Bout You, which was presented as an associated event at the 2004 festival and I’d Hide You, which was co-commissioned by Future Everything and premiered at the 2012 festival.
Too Much Information runs Friday 27th February (10.30-16.30), Saturday 28th February (10.30-14.30) and Sunday 1st March (11.30-15.45), the event starting at the Royal Exchange Theatre. Tickets £7/£5 available from the Royal Exchange Box Office or online from the Royal Exchange Theatre website.
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Royal Exchange Theatre. image credit University of Salford Press Office/flickr under creative commons licence.
