Daydream[author-post-rating] (4/5 stars)

Would you like to leave Edinburgh? I mean, I’m sure you’re having a lovely time, but it’s very… very… extremely…[insert your own personal terminology for “enjoyably exhausting” here) isn’t it? When I say “leave Edinburgh”, I don’t mean leave for good, just for 15 minutes perhaps? Walk into the misleadingly functional-looking sky blue shipping container in Summerhall’s courtyard and you can walk out of the world for a little while. In Crying Out Loud’s touchingly simple but really quite wondrous installation Daydream, you’re sent off into blank blue interior of the container, then invited to clamber (quite a humbling and humanising experience in itself) into a small suspended tent – such a familiar childhood hideout, except this structure looks far more ethereal, ephemeral even, than anything you might have pitched in your back garden.  Lie down on the white bedding within and close your eyes. It’s as simple as that. But closing your eyes is such a difficult demand when every fibre of your body has become so used to being on high alert, switched on, tuned in, devouring every piece of information it’s given and still always hungry for more. The challenge here, one that offers considerable reward, is to let your thoughts off the leash for a few moments, conjuring hazy narratives without attaching too much significance, judgement, rationality – to just daydream.

Despite the somewhat whimsical set up, Daydream‘s not all sweetness and light. Something that might be a bear growls low in its throat while circling the fragile shelter, waves crash and the tent seems to tremble, a chattering rainforest presses close and there’s a powerful beat that knocks against your bones. Still, there’s nothing too insistent about Dominique Pauwels’s score – at most, it prompts indistinct images to flit and fade through your mind. The light exhales itself in hallucinogenic colours with the same slowed rhythm as a sleeper’s breathing. There’s a strange sense of responsiveness in that space, as if the whole structure’s a living thing, attending affectionately to you alone. True, Daydream‘s ability to be entirely immersive relies on a degree of complicity from its audience members, but what a minor demand to make in return for such a tranquil and precious experience.

Daydream is playing at Summerhall until 25 August. For more information and tickets, please visit the Edinburgh Fringe Festival website.