Drama in the dark

A new stage show, whose story draws on the thriller genre and takes place in the dark with the audience wearing headphones, will debut at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas.

Commissioned by the Festival, Fiction is described as an anxious journey through the sprawling architecture of our dreams.

The play is described as "a sound journey through complete darkness which plays on the senses, creating a unique theatrical experience that undermines common theatre convention". It is the second collaboration between director David Rosenberg, the co-founder of Shunt and director of Electric Hotel, and writer/novellist Glen Neath whose previous work includes Romcom and The Bench, which have been performed fourteen countries to date. They previously worked together on Ring, which received great acclaim from audiences and critics alike.

The sound, provided by Ben and Max Ringham, is recorded using binaural sound technology, creating a 3D listening sensation, giving the performance an extraordinary intimacy and immediacy. It transports the audience, who become protagonists in the show, into their own dream world, but all is not as it seems, and they won’t be alone. Fiction creates the eerie sensation of presence, even, or perhaps especially, when there’s no one there.

By setting the show in complete darkness, with the audience wearing headphones, David Rosenburg explores ways of creating an alternative reality, building on his previous use of technology and sound in successful earlier works Ring, Electric Hotel and Motor Show. Praise for Ring includes a Wired review which states: “I haven’t been affected by a show as profoundly in a long time.”

Fiction was commissioned by the Cambridge Festival of Ideas, Cambridge Junction and Bournemouth Arts by the Sea Festival. It is funded by Arts Council England and a Wellcome Trust Arts Award. David Rosenberg, Greg Neath and other key members of the creative team of Fiction are available for interview. Performances take place on 28th and 29th October from 7.30-8.30pm in Room J2, Cambridge Junction.

Now in its seventh year, the Festival of Ideas aims to explore some of the most essential and thought-provoking ideas of our time, from rising nationalism, gender and racial politics to digital rights and innovation.  It celebrates the very best of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Over 250 events ranging from talks, debates and film screenings to exhibitions and comedy nights are held in lecture halls, theatres, museums and galleries around Cambridge and entry to many is free.

Other performance-related events taking place at the Festival of Ideas include:

- Hip hop psych - a hip hop takeover of West Road Concert Hall exploring mental illness through hip hop beats and lyrics, including live performances [20 October]

- METIS present World Factory - Zoe Svendsen, Zhao Chuan and Wu MEng discuss their work with their theatre company Grass Stage, focusing on the politics of creating performance on contemporary issues in China and their collaboration with Cambridge-based METIS [21st October]. Followed by a performance of World Factory: the game which explores the relationship between China and the UK through the lens of the global textile industry [1st November]

- L'apres-midi d'un Foehn - Version 1 - Compagnie Non Nova - a company of prima ballerinas made entirely from a handful of plastic bags [23rd October]

- Panopticon: are we losing our identity in today's Orwellian reality? - an interactive are installation, with live audio-visual performance, investigating and exploring identity and privacy erosion through the rise of the Internet and social media [24th October]

- Semaphore - an evening of dynamic dispatches interpreting between music, dance, film and poetry springing from the creative sci-art-tech investigations fuelling ongoing collaborations between composer Richard Hoadley and choreographer Jane Turner [26th October]

- Your Song - a celebration of community singing in Cambridge, featuring choirs from across the city [29th October]

- Bright Club - six Cambridge researchers get up behind the microphone to have a go at doing stand-up comedy based on their work [30th October]

- Bridget Christie: a Bic for her - award-winning comic and Radio 4 regular Bridget Christie talks gender equality in her smash-hit Edinburgh show [1st November]

- Cambridge young composer of the year - listen to pieces entered for the Cambridge Young Composer of the Year competition, followed by Young Composers Concert [2nd November]

The University of Cambridge Festival of Ideas is sponsored by Cambridge University Press and Anglia Ruskin University. Event partners include Heffers, University of Cambridge Museums, RAND Europe and the Cambridge Junction. The Festival's media partner is BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.

To book tickets for Fiction email tickets@junction.co.uk. For other events at the Festival of Ideas, click here.