It’s 2035. The Earth’s resources are depleting and a corporation called Tricorps want you to escape into the ‘Experience Machine’, a new virtual reality system, built to preserve the human race. This is Switch, brought to you by the Young Company at Tricycle Theatre. It’s part of their annual Takeover and never has a word been so apt – the show literally takes over the entire building in an immersive theatre experience. This is production with creative aspirations, but unfortunately no real substance.

Switch starts promisingly. Seated in the grand cinema at the Tricycle, we listen through individual mp3 players to the joys of the ‘Experience Machine,’ led by the Tricorps heads of department. Suddenly, half the audience have their players hacked by a guerrilla squad known as ‘The Rebels.’ We are whisked away to their ‘base’ and told about the evils of what we have been exposed to. This audience is given a mission: destroy the ‘Experience Machine.’ You can’t deny it’s a pretty thrilling concept, and if you try really hard to stay in the moment, the show will be much better for it. Clearly there has been huge artistic endeavour in getting this project off the ground, and I applaud Director, Tom Bowtell and his team. Effort has not gone to waste here, and the initial payoff, from set to world building, is very transportive.

Granted this is a scratch production, and should be treated as such, but too many times technical hiccups forced you out of the experience, where it all got very funny very quickly. For example, my mp3 was set to the wrong channel so I got joyous tropical music in my ears when I was supposed to be getting risky instructions. Audience members can be slow movers, and this juxtaposed the high intensity the performers were going for. The final climactic moment, where we all had to escape the building, was meant to be exciting, but due to large numbers we bottlenecked the corridor. We all had to shuffle out slowly with the alarms blaring. It’s meant to be such a serious show too, so when something unexpected happens, it does feel very silly.

The main issue surrounding this production is that so much work has gone into the creative ideas, which mean the story and characters are virtually non-existent. You are given a pre-subscribed character to use in the show, but not once did that idea come into play, so why bother? Story elements feel like they’re being made-up as we go along, and though we are introduced to each of ‘The Rebels’ in turn, I can’t for the life of me remember anything about them. In many ways it doesn’t matter, but this leaves Switch without any emotional connection at all. We are just being spouted ideologies and no-one is telling us anything about why we should feel differently. Add in the fact we are supposed to come to a deep and meaningful conclusion at the play’s end, and you stop caring very quickly.

Switch is a show that tries really hard to be impressive, and could be great, but it’s missing some heart. Technical issues can be resolved, but the main problems lies with the centre of the play. There has to be a deeper reason for the audience to connect with this world. As it stands, Switch needs some work.

 

Switch is played at the Tricycle Theatre until Saturday 19 March. For more information visit the Tricycle Theatre Website.