For the last year, I have had the opportunity to watch and critique plenty of theatrical productions through writing for the ‘Theatre’ section of this site. Some productions have told a story without any audience engagement, others have encouraged guests to participate through clapping or shouting, and in one case people were invited up onto the stage during curtain call to dance with the cast. However, I never expected to find myself standing infront of dozen’s of people performing as a member of the cast. This is the experience that The Confidence Man provides – and it is one which is both slightly surreal and highly entertaining.
The Confidence Man is not your typical theatrical production in many ways. Firstly, rather than take place on a stage, guests are seated surrounding a stage which is designed to look like a wall-less house with a street surrounding it. Within different areas of the set marked out by white lines are both furniture (Eg. chairs, tables, greenery) and props (Eg. Suitcase, bag, whisky bottle etc) which the participants will engage with at some point – meaning it is not difficult for the guests to know where a scene is taking place and what the characters are interacting with.
Secondly, the entire show does not involve a single word coming from the mouth of a participant. Each participant is given a mask to make them look like the character they are representing (As the masks are made of mesh, vision isn’t inhibited too much), noise blocking headphones and depending on the character, a phone to interact with at some point. From there, they are given access to all the dialogue respective to their character and those around them through the headphones, in addition to the international thoughts of the character and instructions on what to do. As all dialogue is pre-recorded, all the participants have to do is move around the set as instructed and represent their character through body/hand movements. These movements can be either realistic or over-the-top depending on the person behind the mask.
From my perspective as “Sam” (Character choice was completely coincidental), the instructions provided were fairly easy to follow and keep up with – but also left room for improvisation and my own unique flair. However, on one occasion I was stuck in a situation where another participant missed an instruction. One segment involved my character following another from the kitchen to the living room, with the other person not doing this action. I was left with the conundrum of just doing what the instructions said or improvising the conversation that takes place in the kitchen. Overall, the production team seemed to be mostly hands off with small mistakes, however in situations like this did intervene once it would be much harder to continue the progression of events. Therefore, I wouldn’t be too worried about messing things up too badly.
Despite a few small issues and slightly stressful situations, it was genuinely enjoyable getting into character and performing for a straight 45 minutes to 1 hour. That being said, I can only say this with respect to my character and not others, particularly the two characters who didn’t appear in my tale until halfway through the story. However, the perception I got from other participants during and just after the performance was a positive one.
Given I haven’t seen The Confidence Man as a spectator, I cannot comment too much on how enjoyable the show is from that perspective. Spectators are also given a pair of headsets, in addition to a tablet device which allows them to tune into the dialogue and thoughts of any character at any time. Should you see something interesting on stage, pressing a single button will shift your perspective from Person A to Person B. This does mean that to receive the complete storyline from the perspective of each character, you would ideally need to sit through six sessions, with each session tuned into a different character. Having been a participant, I am a little bit disappointed that I didn’t have an opportunity to tune into the perspectives of other characters. Despite this, the storyline from Sam’s perspective was pretty enjoyable overall, proving to be a decent and easily approachable crime story which gets considerably darker and sinister as the tale progresses.
While I cannot say too much about the experience of being a spectator, being able to get on stage and perform in-front of people with no knowledge of what to expect was a slightly daunting but immensely entertaining and memorable experience. Although fairly simple, the storyline is approachable enough for those on stage and (in my opinion) offers a lot for the spectators to view. Should you find yourself at The Confidence Man some point in the future and are able to navigate slightly cramped spaces, have no physical restrictions, have no qualms with getting somewhat close to a complete stranger (Holding hands, dancing etc) and don’t mind potentially make a fool of yourself, I highly recommend putting your hand up to join the cast. However I would suggest possibly booking an alternate session as well so you can witness all six-dimensions of the storyline. This was ultimately one of the most unique theatre experiences I have ever had.
I took on the role of a cast member in the opening night/session of The Confidence Man at The Arts Centre Gold Coast.
