Thespo's THE RIGHT WAY is a 'specially designed show for one audience member at a time, that frames its narrative around what YOU see.' The performance is presented by Thespo, Youth Theatre Movement that showcases, trains, collaborates, and celebrates to create a global community of young theatre professionals. The RIGHT WAY DIGITAL-VOLUME 3 is one of its own kind of immersive theatre with a single spectator at a time. It is different from sitting as a part of the audience and watching the performance unfold itself live or digitally. Here, on Zoom, the participant immerses in a dialogue about various sociopolitical and cultural values and issues all around the world, which proceeds to a series of interactions leading to various thought-provoking questions. It is a highly participatory form of theatre, where the conversation revolves around and moves forward through the participant's opinions and thoughts.
The only person on Zoom call along with you will be the theatre artiste, making the entire experience very intimate and up close. As the show begins you're given instructions and the video from each side is kept off to maintain anonymity. This is something new and different from the performances being held online where you are encouraged to keep your videos on.
Here, with your camera off, a level of anonymity is maintained, and throughout the one-hour interactive session, you don't know with whom are you communicating. There are different slides that are already made by the maker of the show, the slides consist of one-liners, phrases, quotes, images, and these are shown to you one by one. You are encouraged to speak your thoughts and opinion upon viewing the slides and the narrative is framed around the participant's opinions. The participant interacts with the artiste to reach a conclusion. Since you are not being viewed or recorded, it gives you the liberty to freely express yourself and speak your mind. This aspect makes the conversation unique and removes the burden of being judged which results in an open-minded and uncensored conversation.
Overall, the experience is that of an intriguing, filter-free conversation that leaves you feeling light and enriched by the time the session comes to an end. It's like listening to your own thoughts out loud. The format of the show is such, you will enjoy speaking, listening, and thinking about things that matter. There are no right or wrong opinions in the entire conversation, so it allows you to speak about what you truly feel about certain things without the burden of the need to be right every time. Towards the end of the talk, you are given an option to choose whether you want to stay anonymous and would like to switch on your camera. The participant has the freedom of choosing either of the options.
If you're someone who enjoys talking and discussing things that matter, then you must attend the show. As a participant, you are not only listening but being a part of the performance itself.
*Parul Rana is a theatre enthusiast and movie buff.