Birmingham-based theatre company Stan’s Café is to stage a “unique”, one-off, 24-hour performance, Ultraopticon which will take place in the cylindrical, Grade II-listed Rotunda in the city centre.
Ultraopticon involves unnamed agents who appear to have been holed up in the apartment block for some time. They gaze out across the skyline and down into the streets below. Reporting on the world around them, their descriptions and observations are relayed in multiple languages including Lithuanian, Bengali, Spanish and English.
Throughout the unbroken performance, visitors are invited to join this anonymous team of observers, both in-person and online, to see what they see, to look out with their telescopes and digital devices, to experience the city like they've never experienced it before.
Producer Dominic Thompson said, “forty-five minute slots are available throughout the full 24-hour performance, so come watch the mountain of coffee cups and pizza boxes get higher as the observers try to keep watching the whole world.”
Ultraopticon, which features a rotating cast, begins on Friday 19 January at 6PM. Tickets to Ultraopticon at Rotunda, New Street, Birmingham must be booked in advance. They cost £10 each and £2 from each ticket will be donated to Birmingham’s B30 foodbank. Slots are for 45 minutes each. Book and access the free 24-hour live-stream at the Stan’s Café web site.