RCA Theatre Company presents Secret Theatre’s Landline: St John’s to Calgary, As part of the 31st Annual High Performance Rodeo, In collaboration with One Yellow Rabbit

January 24th-28th 2017

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Landline offers a curious exposure to the feeling of being alone together. Landline is a performance that takes place in two places at once. Using smartphones, participants are invited to play the dual role of audience and performer in an audio-guided, experiential walking tour of the city. Each audience member is partnered with a fellow participant in Calgary, Alberta and converse in real time via text message.

As the experience unfolds, individuals are prompted to share stories, memories and secrets. The project uses the urban landscape as backdrop for the relationship forming between two strangers.

Important show requirements:

• Carry a cellphone with a texting plan and ensure your battery is fully charged. Landline uses SMS, regular rates apply.
• Dress appropriately to walk outside for 40 to 50 minutes.
• Arrive 15 minutes before your departure time.
• Space is limited. Make sure you reserve early to avoid disappointment.

We are artists who work hard to develop projects that speak both to us and others about the beauty found in a shared experience. We do not merely want audiences to engage; rather, with thoughtful, playful intervention, we aim to give people a feeling they are at the heart of the experience.

Landline was created with support from Neworld Theatre (Vancouver) and Secret Theatre (Halifax); and developed in part through The Collaborations, an initiative of Canada’s National Arts Centre English Theatre. Created by Adrienne Wong and Dustin Harvey.

Quotes and Pictures from other Landline Performances –

“Part radio play, part walking tour, Landline spread the stage to two cities over 1000 kms apart, and breaks the fourth wall completely. Two people in two cities, linked by cellular texting and synchronized audio script/guide, became audience to the radio play and walking tour. The technical details are easy. The organizers swap our cell phone numbers. We both receive iPods which play the audio script in sync. We are sent out of our respective theatres into the two cities outside. The two cities become our stages” – Brian Carroll (Landline: Ottawa to Dartmouth, NS)

“Our first connection is with our partners is made soon after checking in (with the box office.) We confirm our cell phone numbers and then instructed to wait for a text message reading “Stand by.” Once received, we are told to reply with “Standing by,” and then to take a seat and await further instructions. At the signal we press play and then are off to wander on our own over the next hour. There is a unique alchemy of estrangement and familiarity embedded in such a performance: that our experience is shaped not just by our texts with a stranger in another city, but also by the process of making strange–paradoxically in order to make it more tangible and accessible for an other–a place we already thought we know.” P (Landline: Vancouver to Kitchener)

Promotional Video Explaining the Project – Made by Secret Theatre