Dante or DieAs a newbie to site-specific productions, I couldn’t help but feel a tad apprehensive walking into Islington’s Hilton Hotel for Dante or Die’s latest piece, I Do. It’s about, you guessed it, a wedding – or rather the events that unfold prior to one. I wasn’t sure whether I would have to take part in the ‘show’ in some form or other (this is my idea of absolute hell) or perhaps be forced to do something unthinkable. But once I’d gotten over the initial hyperventilating, a sense of intrigue took over, especially after being handed a lovely cream boutonniere to wear.

Dante or Die is a very exciting and innovative company indeed. Led by Co-Artistic Directors Daphne Attlas and Terry O-Donovan, it aims to create dance theatre and site-sensitive productions, which are inspired by urban myths, contemporary stories and the magical in the mundane. Boasting an impressive list, including La Fille a la Mode premiering at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2011, Ferrytale which took place on the historical HMS President as part of the Thames Festival 2004 and the eerie Caliper Boy, Dante or Die is a revolutionary company on the brink of something very special.

Showing as part of the Almeida Festival, I Do takes its audience on a journey around the hotel’s third floor, entering various rooms where dramatic and occasionally comedic scenarios are unfolding. Voyeuristic and surreal it certainly is. Split into six groups, we were led by an usher into one room at a time with the order varying between the groups, meaning the ‘storyline’ would affect each differently. We started off in a small, dark cramped space with a very nearly naked gentleman laying half on and half off his bed. The curtains are drawn and his phone is ringing (right next to where I was uncomfortably perched I might add) and eventually he crawls over and retrieves it, listening to the various urgent voicemails that await him, before throwing on some clothes, grabbing a bag and running out into the hall. Immediately after, a vision in white bursts in: the occupier’s bride-to-be with some serious doubts about a wedding she is epically unprepared for. We are led back into the corridor and into another room.

I Do continued much in the same way with us been led to rooms occupied by the best man (who is having a gay love affair with a heterosexual member of the party), the bride and her bridesmaids singing 90s tunes (couldn’t help but have a little dance in my seat) whilst swigging Prosecco from the bottle; the mother of the bride and her estranged ex-husband; a very emotional room with the grandparents. All are cleverly linked with moments occurring in one room that we may have already seen in another, but from another point of view.

Site-specific performances are perhaps always going to feel a little bit awkward, what with being thrust into the action and feeling as though you’re observing something you shouldn’t (but secretly loving). It is just a phenomenal way to present theatre and  credit must go to the actors who had to frequently deal with us being in the way and not once going out of character. The bride’s sister is the absolute highlight with the most elaborate and covert operation ever seen in order to have a cheeky fag without setting off the bedroom’s smoke alarm.

Pieces of theatre such as this one really do make you think and are a very welcome change to the more traditional style that is still ruling the country. More please!

I Do will be going on Tour around the UK this Autumn. For more information and tickets, see the Dante or Die website.