Birmingham-based company The Other Way Works, which creates “playful and immersive theatre” that allows audiences to explore new places, is to present its latest production—in a fully-functioning hotel.
Black Tonic, with text by Clare Duffy, is a detective story for an audience of four people who check in and are ushered through the corridors by hotel “staff” in a bid to uncover clues to help them solve the mystery.
What is causing the tension between married couple Helen and Steve? Can Anna the “professional relationship restorer” help them? Overheard conversations, discarded photographs and CCTV footage all make up the clues in this interactive performance in which the audience-turned-detectives have more than one case to solve: what lies at the bottom of the mystery, who is part of the performance and who is an actual guest?
Katie Day, artistic director of The Other Way Works who directs the production, said, “experiencing Black Tonic has been described as like being in a film—it’s a visceral treat for all your senses.
"Performing in a real, operating hotel provides the ultimate true-to-life theatre set and gives our audiences an exciting sense of being in on a secret. There’s no craning to see the action over the heads of 20 people in front of you, as our audience experience Black Tonic in a pair.”
Black Tonic will be performed in Radisson Blu, Birmingham at 6:30, 7:45 and 9PM from Wednesday until Sunday. Tickets are available from Birmingham REP.