Sunday 9th until Tuesday 11th May 2010 @ Bridewell Island, Bristol
Showing as part of Mayfest 2010, Bristol’s festival of contemporary theatre

One of the most amazing things about theatre and what will always set it apart is how occasionally it has the ability to get inside your head and under your skin infinitely more powerfully than any other medium of performance. More than engaging you through just what you see or hear, the right type of theatre can completely swarm all of your senses at once and in doing so, has the potential to touch and move you much more deeply than, say, a great song or great film ever could.

One theatre company that forever push this envelope and have garnered themselves a fantastic international reputation for consistently providing audiences with intimate, exciting, involving, intense and altogether memorable shows is the Belgian theatre troupe, Ontroerend Goed. The Smile Off Your Face, the show they brought to last year’s Mayfest, was described by some who took part as ‘a life changing event’ and it is still talked about fondly and with incredible admiration today. Now that they are back at Mayfest 2010 with their new show, Internal, people are understandably doing everything and anything they can to get their hands on tickets.

Led through a series of very dark corridors in a little used corner of Bridewell Island, the audience of strictly 5 are finally left standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a row, facing a black curtain that is inches from their faces. Surrounded by anticipatory silence, the curtain slowly raises and the 5 spectators are confronted with 5 actors who are just as close on the other side of the curtain as they are, all dress very elegantly and all staring deeply into their partner’s eyes with a knowing glint.

What follows is an unbelievably intimate but thoroughly pleasant experience as you chat casually and honestly with your partner about life, love, ambitions and fears. I don’t want to give too much away but be content that it is deeply involving, incredibly tender and a personal experience that will vary hugely from person to person. With that in mind, all I can say is how I felt taking part and for me, for that 30 minutes, it felt like I was in love and was myself, intimately and truly loved. Not lusty or passionate love and not necessarily in love with an individual but just the sheer, beautiful emotion itself and how it swarms around your heart and your blood, enriching every part of you.

Theatre and intimacy of this scale can be hugely intimidating and will no doubt put some people off but those with an open mind will get a phenomenally personal and inspiring experience that will live with them for a long, long time.

www.mayfestbristol.co.uk

Matthew Whittle www.matthewwhittleblog.blogspot.com