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Situation Rooms: step right into the world of the international arms trade Situation Rooms: step right into the world of the international arms trade
(7 months later)
“Was your trip over OK?” I ask Stefan Kaegi, one of the leaders of Rimini Protokoll, recently arrived in Australia ahead of its production at Perth festival. “It was good,” he says, “but we had some items confiscated on the way through customs. A replica gun, a bullet-proof vest, some machinery ... I think that it might be easier to import a real firearm into this country than try to bring in a replica.”“Was your trip over OK?” I ask Stefan Kaegi, one of the leaders of Rimini Protokoll, recently arrived in Australia ahead of its production at Perth festival. “It was good,” he says, “but we had some items confiscated on the way through customs. A replica gun, a bullet-proof vest, some machinery ... I think that it might be easier to import a real firearm into this country than try to bring in a replica.”
You’d think running an interactive documentary about the international arms trade might be tricky without, well, weapons. But Kaegi isn’t doing anything on a small scale: the show might be missing three of its props, but it has about 4997 others – the show takes a team of eight five days to assemble – which it can fall back on.You’d think running an interactive documentary about the international arms trade might be tricky without, well, weapons. But Kaegi isn’t doing anything on a small scale: the show might be missing three of its props, but it has about 4997 others – the show takes a team of eight five days to assemble – which it can fall back on.
Situation Rooms features 20 people whose lives have been touched by the arms trade. A Syrian rebel, a German gun enthusiast, a Mexican drug cartel operative and a prominent politician are among those interviewed, along with police officers, manufacturers, child soldiers and a Pakistani lawyer suing the US government for unlawful drone strikes.Situation Rooms features 20 people whose lives have been touched by the arms trade. A Syrian rebel, a German gun enthusiast, a Mexican drug cartel operative and a prominent politician are among those interviewed, along with police officers, manufacturers, child soldiers and a Pakistani lawyer suing the US government for unlawful drone strikes.
Their experiences are recreated on film, and the audience, grasping iPad minis and headphones, move through a set, watching the interviewees as they discuss and show the ways in which the international arms trade has affected them. Audience members are asked to mirror those actions – flying rebel flags, ducking for cover, taking aim on the firing range or simply cleaning the table in a family home touched by death.Their experiences are recreated on film, and the audience, grasping iPad minis and headphones, move through a set, watching the interviewees as they discuss and show the ways in which the international arms trade has affected them. Audience members are asked to mirror those actions – flying rebel flags, ducking for cover, taking aim on the firing range or simply cleaning the table in a family home touched by death.
“There are parallels with being a soldier, and with first-person video games,” says Stefan. “The sense of following orders without all the information you need to judge your actions.”“There are parallels with being a soldier, and with first-person video games,” says Stefan. “The sense of following orders without all the information you need to judge your actions.”
Rimini Protokoll has been playing with the boundaries between audience and participant, between actor and human, for years. Its 100% series of shows – which the company brought to Melbourne in 2012 – asks that people work together to build a representation of the city on stage, embodying certain statistics: young, old, able-bodied, disabled, with a violent history, who’ve thought of suicide, with a history of drug abuse, and so on. Rimini Protokoll has been playing with the boundaries between audience and participant, between actor and human, for years. Its 100% series of shows – which the company brought to Melbourne in 2012 – asks that people work together to build a representation of the city on stage, embodying certain statistics: young, old, able-bodied, disabled, with a violent history, who’ve thought of suicide, with a history of drug abuse, and so on.
Kaegi was a journalist before he was a director, and it shows – there’s a drive to tease stories out of ordinary people and let the audience explore them free from the motivations of actors. In fact the only live acting in Situation Rooms comes from the audience who ape the recollections of the interviewees; as each piece of the 20 individual sections is both separate from and overlooked by the others, each audience member performs for the others.Kaegi was a journalist before he was a director, and it shows – there’s a drive to tease stories out of ordinary people and let the audience explore them free from the motivations of actors. In fact the only live acting in Situation Rooms comes from the audience who ape the recollections of the interviewees; as each piece of the 20 individual sections is both separate from and overlooked by the others, each audience member performs for the others.
This is a production that encourages participants to get under the skin of events – it is billed as a multi-player video theatre piece. Others, too, in Australia are others embracing the awkward middle ground between theatre and play, between passivity and activity.This is a production that encourages participants to get under the skin of events – it is billed as a multi-player video theatre piece. Others, too, in Australia are others embracing the awkward middle ground between theatre and play, between passivity and activity.
Pop-Up Playground, a Melbourne collective headed by a playwright, an artist, and a game designer – disclosure: it has hosted live games run by me – host twice-yearly festivals in which it creates grand, public spectacles where the audience slip back into the playful state they once held as children. The process allows participants to look at people and places they know through an entirely different lens.Pop-Up Playground, a Melbourne collective headed by a playwright, an artist, and a game designer – disclosure: it has hosted live games run by me – host twice-yearly festivals in which it creates grand, public spectacles where the audience slip back into the playful state they once held as children. The process allows participants to look at people and places they know through an entirely different lens.
No Show creates immersive experiences with audience participation, blending the space between player and audience. In one show, designed for a single audience member, the company takes on the roles of shadowy military figures and presents the viewer with a button that will unleash nuclear annihilation when pushed.No Show creates immersive experiences with audience participation, blending the space between player and audience. In one show, designed for a single audience member, the company takes on the roles of shadowy military figures and presents the viewer with a button that will unleash nuclear annihilation when pushed.
While their subject matter and execution may differ, all the groups share a common aim of bringing the audience to the forefront and pushing them into the heart of proceedings. Whether it’s done through the screen of an iPad mini, or the smoky haze of a nuclear bunker, or by playing an enormous game of tag across Federation Square, is immaterial. While their subject matter and execution may differ, all the groups share a common aim of bringing the audience to the forefront and pushing them into the heart of proceedings. Whether it’s done through the screen of an iPad mini, or the smoky haze of a nuclear bunker, or by playing an enormous game of tag across Federation Square, is immaterial.
“The time has come where audiences are no longer satisfied to walk into a dark room and receive a top-down story,” said Kaegi. “They want something more.”“The time has come where audiences are no longer satisfied to walk into a dark room and receive a top-down story,” said Kaegi. “They want something more.”
• Situation Rooms plays at Perth Festival until February 23• Situation Rooms plays at Perth Festival until February 23