M/Hotel is an intimate performance in a Holiday Inn Hotel room
By Kevin Griffin, Vancouver Sun November 30, 2011
What I like most about site-specific works is their uncertainty. Being at a performance outside of a traditional theatre always makes me much more aware of my surroundings. Since I’m often never sure what exactly is part of the performance and what isn’t, everyone and everything becomes potentially part of the show.
So even before I got to M/Hotel, the latest site specific work by David McIntosh of battery opera, I was already primed to see something different. Early last year, he created a captivating work called Lives Were Around Me. I was part of a group taken on a tour of the Downtown Eastside where performances took place in venues such as the Police Museum and a beer parlour near Hastings and Main. I thought it was a wonderful production that brought the city alive in a way that made me aware of the strangers and lives around me.
For M/Hotel, everyone is supposed to meet in the Lobby Bar of the Howe street Holiday Inn before heading off to the performance in one of the hotel’s rooms. When I got to the bar, I could see a couple of tables already occupied with drinkers. Was I going to have to ask if they were part of M/Hotel? As I dithered, the bartender came over and rescued me. He directed me to the right table in the corner.
After a little banter with a group from the production that included McIntosh, I was given my key and directions to the second floor room. I was told not to pay attention to the people making noise in the meeting room on the mezzanine above. Of course, having been told that, I couldn’t think of anything but them as I climbed past the poinsettia on the stairs.
What was a little unusual was that I was the only audience member. The maximum for M/Hotel is only five but for the 9 p.m. show last Wednesday, I was the only one who showed up. I’ve been to site specific performances before where there have been as few as three people, but never just one.
Maybe that’s why I felt like I was a little on edge when I entered into the hotel room. I checked the entire room for someone or something hidden. I even pulled back the shower curtain (shades of Psycho!). But I was there, alone, with no clues or props that might indicate what was next. I sat down on the bed furthest away from the door (just in case).
Then I waited. It was very unusual to wait for something to happen in a nondescript hotel room. The sense of anticipation was extraordinary.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Hotel+intimate+performance+Holiday+Hotel+room/5792492/story.html#ixzz1fIpGzdG4
Battery Opera
