Finlay Clench
Led upstairs by a wasitcoated man, winding through numerous stairwells and corridors, I didn’t quite know what to expect ambling into The Quaker Meeting room on a Sunday night. I had been promised something totally game-changing and that is exactly what I got back. But in a qurky unique way.
If truth be told, this is innovation at its highest, with some twists and turns along the way.
Truthmachine, created and conceptualised by Australian company, Counterpilot, this performance art piece-cum-play looks to be a social experiment trying to uncover lies and find the deep-rooted truths beneath their audience members. Seated in a room with a handful of strangers, you are entranced by the mystery and magic of it all. Anything can happen, anything could happen, or at least that is how the team, led by Nathan Sibthorpe want you to feel throughout the piece. A live polygraph combines with a paper investigation booklet to give you a sense of a mission in the space, and truly this does feel like a serious, authentic scientific endeavour. An audience member hooked to cables and wires, this is theatre of the body and theatre of human existence
Social psychology and immersive experience blend together with this work. And a terrifying, borderline intrusive experience is what the audience of now really desire. People crave the risk and horror of these social experiments with reality television. Technological details along with personal information amalgamate in a production which reaches beyond the normal theatrical space. By choosing a universal concept – lying, and one which is dangerous and damaging, the stakes are always high, but not too high that there is any genuine danger in the space. What the team do is ensure that safety is the priority.
After a few minutes in the room, a real actor enters, and throughout it is unclear whether the people within the space are members of a cast or people simply putting you through your paces in search for results about lie detection. At points, this show does err on the overly complex side, as the groundbreaking technology does sometimes fail to work effectively, although the ambition from the team should be applauded, as the effort thrown into this production is extraordinary. And nowhere else but the Edinburgh Fringe could you be thrown into lie detection on a Sunday night. At points you do doubt the polygraph, lie detector and it is always unclear whether it is fully telling the truth, which adds an extra element to truth detection but also makes you doubt the format of the game. This is especially key when the investigator asks the audience member ‘are you attracted to me?’. When the. audience member states no, the machine reveals that the lie detector states 96% chance of lying. Surely this polygraph must be rigged for comedic effect? It is absolutely mystifying.
The use of multiple mediums in the production helps the mission progress. Not only do we have real voices in the room, but also microphones, a console to answer yes or no to questions but also a booklet with information about truth through the ages, and the evolving methods of figuring out what the truth is. Sometimes the narration and instructions to turn pages in the booklet do seem a little random and a way to fill the time, although it is great to see a production which plays on all manners of communication. Perhaps this booklet could better tie into a storyline or narrative throughout the piece.
Technologically, the production is simply beyond belief. Whether that is through the soundtrack, well-integrated and fitting for all the right moments, whether that’s the consoles which glow depending on your answer, or the LEDs to go alongside: this is a production which works like clockwork. The heavy thinking gone into every component is highly evident and does not go without notice. Sound design by Mike Willmett is fluid and perfectly intensifies the atmosphere in the space. Everything will astonish you: everything is slick and perfectly timed.
This is not one for the faint hearted. Lie-tellers: beware.
Reccomended Drink: Tequila Lie-me
Catch Truthmachine at Studio, C Arts (C Alto) from August 7-30 (Not 17, 18, 24, 25) at Various Times (30 minutes). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Image Credit: Yaya Stempler
Abbie Lowe
Roe McDonnell
