Olivier Award nominated sound design duo Ben and Max Ringham will be breaking boundaries and asking audiences to switch their phones on for theatre this summer with the premiere of Monument, an intriguing and secretive new outdoor show.
Created with the award-winning brothers’ frequent collaborator, director David Rosenberg, Monument will take place in a number of Central London locations from 14 July and use the pioneering phone app Wiretapper to allow audiences to tap into conversations and interactions through their headphones.
Adding to the intrigue, each performance will take place 30 minutes before sunset as the “disorientating yet playful experience” takes intrepid audiences – and their smartphones – through the busy streets of London for an unpredictable journey questioning individual liberty.
If that all sounds a bit confusing, don’t worry, the creators of Monument are encouraging the public to give in to the cryptic nature of the piece, reassuring audience’s that while it may sound secretive, “that is not really the point – secrecy leads to argument, divorce, split lips and jail-time. This secrecy is purely practical; practical secrecy.”
The innovative trio behind the new performance piece have worked together for near 20 years, with the Ringhams working frequently for Rosenberg’s co-founded company Shunt. As well as their work for the renowned live performance collective, the pair earned West End acclaim in 2012 when they were nominated for an Olivier Award for their work on classic comedy The Ladykillers.
Speaking about this latest project, Rosenberg said: “Monument is very different from all our previous work with a headphone-wearing audience. This time the scale is vast, and we want to push our audiences into the heart of a city that is suddenly both familiar and strange… The technology behind Wiretapper may well lay the foundations for a digital revolution in audio theatre, and we’re excited that Monument is its first experiment.”
Monument plays until 23 August and more information will be revealed in the coming days on the Wiretapper website.