The Covid Diaries 59 – 27 Degrees, Behind Closed Doors (LAST CHANCE TO SEE)

A review of Behind Closed Doors, a “mixed-media” immersive audience experience in Spitalfields. Outdoor theatre mixing live action and technology is evolving fast; I was happy to brave the cold for this innovative and exciting work.

What’s (Really) Happening Behind Closed Doors?

That is the question posed to us by 27 Degrees in this production. We have spent a whole year at home, more or less; some of us in neighbourhoods where we are part of a well-established community, some of us keeping to our own bubbles. Behind Closed Doors allows us to explore our voyeuristic side in a neighbourhood that is not our own. We peer through windows, hear inner monologues, and follow narrative threads across an hour or so of outdoor immersive experience.

The way that this experience has been devised is extremely creative. 27 Degrees describe themselves as “multicultural collective of artists creating sensory audience experiences in unusual spaces.” They are also multi-disciplinary. I would probably describe Behind Closed Doors as theatre as I think that’s the bucket it fits best in, but it comprises light art, live performance, technology, dioramas, audio including music, and the physical environment. The audience are also active participants. There is a ‘choose your own adventure’ element to it which is fun. It also helps to keep the audience spaced out as they move between performance sites in their own time.

Let’s get started, and look in more depth at how the experience works and some of the stories and performances we encounter along the way

Meet The Neighbours

Behind Closed Doors is not exactly site-specific – 27 Degrees has staged/performed it in Harrow, and it has now moved to Spitalfields. The experience begins at Christ Church, Spitalfields. There are a couple of people greeting visitors and organising them into groups. The mechanics of the evening are then explained – you are given a website and password, as well as some ground rules (stay in your bubble, etc.).

You then move to a spot where you have a good vantage point for the first audio clip. In it, a narrator sets the scene (you can see him silhouetted in the top image above). He is a long-time resident of the area, but is still learning about his neighbours. You will be doing the same, starting by selecting a theme. The themes are those things which you may think are missing due to Covid: music, sensuality, madness and so on. Once you select a theme, a map pops up to send you to your next destination, where you start the next audio clip.

Several of the audio segments are tied to live performances. There are four performers who act (or dance) scenes behind ground floor windows of Spitalfields’ amazing Georgian terraces. By connecting to the audio, you hear their inner monologue, or another local resident talking about them.

The ‘choose your own adventure’ component comes in at the end of each segment. You are generally deciding between binary options; this person or that person? Should they or shouldn’t they? It allows you to satisfy your curiosity, and have a control over your experience which doesn’t come with typical theatre. Every combination of decisions has a satisfying and definite ending; although your choices mean that you don’t see every performer so it almost makes you want to go back and start again. Now that I think about it, that’s pretty much exactly how I remember choose your own adventure books so maybe that’s just how my brain works!

Final Thoughts

First of all, I really loved Behind Closed Doors. I remember that when I saw c-o-n-t-a-c-t last summer, which was similar in fusing audio technology and live performance, I felt that the concept was great but it needed to continue to evolve. Well this performance is exactly what I was talking about. The issue of combining mobile audio and live performers, which necessitated a slightly strained plot twist in c-o-n-t-a-c-t, is solved here by making the audience member a voyeur. The point is that you are listening in to something private, you are outside looking in, so the method of delivery feels somehow natural.

The sheer creativity of the experience also makes it fabulous. All of the talents of the members of 27 Degrees must be in use here. The actors/performers draw you into their stories. The light art is captivating. The little dioramas are a wonderful discovery. I also applaud those behind the logictics. It can’t be easy locating and setting up the right number of properties which fit the stories and are close together, and then mapping it all back to the website.

Tonight is the final night to catch Behind Closed Doors in Spitalfields. Since this isn’t its first location, however, it will hopefully pop up elsewhere. Keep an eye on the 27 Degrees website if you would like to know more. I thought it was a particularly good example of where the restrictions of the pandemic have generated concepts that are more creative and more exciting than might otherwise be the case. It made me think about the hidden stories that might exist closer to home; and remember not to trust the narrator, even when that narrator is me. This was the first live performance I have seen in-person since December, and a great way to get back into things as London opens up.

On its own merits: 4/5
Implementing Covid rules: 5/5

Behind Closed Doors until 17 April 2021

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