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The theatre of rehearsing for life by Robert Reid

Rob wrote an article for RealTime about the performitivity of play. You can read it below, and you can find the original article here.

The theatre of rehearsing for lifeRobert Reid, Coney [UK] and new games

Image: Coney, A Small Town Anywhere, BAC Scratch 2012 Image: Coney, A Small Town Anywhere, BAC Scratch 2012
photo Matt Howey Nunn

In 2009 the Battersea Arts Centre in London hosted A Small Town Anywhere, a new work by UK-based company Coney. In it around 30 participants took on the role of villagers in a small country town. Each concealed a terrible secret and likewise had a mortal enemy among the other villagers.

A Small Town Anywhere condensed an entire week of drama into the space of roughly two hours; days and nights passed with subtle shifts in lighting; paper snow fell at one point and gossip, treachery and paranoia threatened to tear the little community apart.

Tom Bowtell and Tassos Stevens, two of the company’s co-directors, describe Coney as mixing “live and digital art forms to create immersive stories and play.” Their work, as well as the work of other groups such as Hide and Seek, Slingshot, Splash and Ripple and The Larks, is part of an emerging practice that, for ease of reference, I’ll call New Games. Their work varies widely encompassing Tiny Games, a series of 99 “easy to play” site-specific games designed for the streets of London by Hide and Seek, and 2.8 Hours Later, a city-wide zombie chase game, by Slingshot. Read More

Fresh Air Festival (Concrete Playground article)

Fresh Air Festival
When: Friday, 8 February – Sunday, 10 February
Where: Federation Square, Cnr Flinders and Swanston Streets, Melbourne VIC 3000
How much: FREE

Whether it’s being part of a crowd rooting for a football team, an audience laughing in unison at a comedian’s jokes, or maybe flashmobbing a train station, there’s something special about communal experience. Pop Up Playground’s Fresh Air Festival is all about bringing strangers together through fun, games, and complicity.

A series of activities will take place around Federation Square this weekend, all based around the theme of interaction and improvisation. Some are as simple as a tent where an artwork that has been left for a lucky stranger — on the condition that they make something for the next person to come along and discover. Then there are enormous, communal games that might have you carrying out secret missions, putting out fires, or even escaping a curse.

Fresh Air Fest is an anarchic, hilarious, and inclusive festival of pervasive games — you’re guaranteed to leave with a new friend.

Original article here: http://melbourne.concreteplayground.com.au/event/102239/fresh-air-festival.htm