asses.masses is a show as strange and creative as the title suggests. Created by Studio FUNFUG Art Society and presented through Impulse Theatre, it’s a seven-and-a-half-hour-long interactive alternative theatre production centred around cooperative gameplay.
“It’s part of three shows that ask audiences to not only question what is a show, but also engage them all really differently,” says Impulse Theatre artistic producer Andrew Barrett. “It is a seven-and-a-half-hour epic video game that is played by the audience democratically; there are no rules. It’s a really lovely merging of gaming and the theatre.”
The show involves an auditorium of audience members who cooperate in playing from start to finish a video game that was created and programmed specifically for this show, and cannot be played at any other time. Barrett says that the genre and style of the game changes throughout.
“It is an 8-bit predominantly, so it has a lot of nostalgia,” he says. “It’s very similar to a Game Boy Advance graphic level, but then it moves into a couple other genres or visual effects. Like there is a GameCube era throughout most of it.”
Despite being nearly a full workday’s commitment, Barrett says that the audience gets fed regularly, including snacks at frequent intermissions, and even a full dinner. These breaks allow people to stretch their legs, and importantly, socialize with their fellow gamers and get to know one another.
“People, because they know it’s going to be so long, it becomes a thing that is their day, which is really exciting,” says Barrett. “The work itself really examines democracy, and a lot of the story weaves in this idea of, like, how can we do something together? In the ones that I’ve experienced, it’s like we’re doing something that is greater than ourselves.”
Barrett says that the show came into being because its creators,Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim, wanted to find other ways to connect with modern audiences besides contemporary theatre.
“They’ve been looking at different ways of engaging audiences within a theatre context that kind of changes the audience perspective,” says Barrett. “It really moves it from the audience being just spectators who are sitting there taking in something in to really active core participants in all of the shows. It’s all about that audience agency and their role as the ones who are moving it forward.”
asses.masses
1 pm Saturday, November 15
1 pm Sunday, November 16
$12 and up, Intrepid Studio
impulsetheatre.ca