Review: All Falls Down, VAULT Festival

Review: All Falls Down, VAULT Festival

The narrator (Joe Strickland) begins by setting the scene for All Falls Down: a gaggle of associates have crash landed in a distant forest following a aircraft accident. The selections made by the viewers will in the end decide their destiny, in an improvised, immersive storytelling.

We are guided by means of the journey by Strickland in a delivery container, with a miniature illustration of the surroundings the viewers is in on a espresso desk. The house is darkish and is atmospherically lit solely by hand torches and the sunshine from cell phones. Understandably, the set and lightings are saved minimal as it’s tough to anticipate how the story will progress. However, the addition of some background woodland sounds would possibly assist set the scene extra absolutely.

While the viewers is led to imagine that the story could also be considerably horror themed, as they’re requested whether or not there are explicit fears that must be averted, this may occasionally not find yourself being the case. Depending on the alternatives of the group, the narrator could be torn in considerably polar instructions. While some members might intend to pursue the horror and thriller route, others can unravel such plans with comedic actions and the efficiency can rapidly grow to be just a little messy, dropping its focus.

In my situation, a possible lethal creature, which began off as a beast with the power to kill off each member of the group, was become a tamed and malnourished pet. In reality, I even named it ‘Kevin’ given the similarities to the hen from Up. Following this flip of occasions, there have been no extra risks offered and the tense state of affairs turned as a substitute into a comfy stayover round a campfire. However, that isn’t to say the story was not gratifying. On the opposite, it was a refreshing expertise because it was not what I had anticipated. Too usually, an viewers would possibly learn the synopsis of a present and go in with a pre-formed notion of what they want to see. Here, even if the course of the narrative is set by the viewers’s actions, every particular person has restricted affect. To add to this, the success or failure of sure actions can depend upon one’s potential in Jenga… 

While the expertise was constructive total, one can think about that it’s a tremendously tough job to construct up a particular theme or focus relying on the viewers’s selections. If the specified outcomes among the many members are too totally different, there’s a likelihood that it may well result in a conflict of wildly various genres, with out reaching something substantial in any of the areas.  

Given the improvised nature and the extraordinarily excessive diploma of freedom by way of responses, every efficiency of All Falls Down is totally distinctive, however this comes at a danger. Perhaps the creatives may run ‘themed’ performances to draw teams of like-minded folks with a view to drive the story in a extra centered course, serving to create a extra in depth and immersive expertise.

Devised by: Joe Strickland
Produced by: Chronic Insanity

All Falls Down performs as a part of VAULT Festival 2023 till 28 January. Further info and bookings could be discovered right here.

You may hear extra about this present and Chronic Insanity in our current chat with Joe Strictland right here.