So there I was, sitting in a canvas-screen room within a room in the basement of the Queen Street United Church. This newly-erected room was filled with chairs, each pointing in a different direction with no discernable pattern. The lights were low and we sat expectantly as the first strains of sound trickled through the canvas walls of the Magic Soundbox.
Conceived by Aleks Bragoszewska, the business manager of CFRC, this most recent installment of Into the Magic Soundbox is an audio experience that draws audience members in with the mesmerizing powers of radio. Spoken word poetry, fiddle, hurdy-gurdy and previously collected interview sound bites were stitched together with the thread of a story about a man who lost his ability to dream. This audio collage made for a surreal transportation into a space relatively uninformed—I hesitate to say tainted, even—by visual information.
Althouh previous Soundboxes have been purely aural endeavors, this one incorporated shadow and light displays that were projected onto the Soundbox’s canvas walls. These were shapes that seemed to have very little to do with the audio content, which kept the status of the audio as the show’s primary input. Although perhaps these visual aids sought to discharge some audience tension surrounding where to look, individual listeners were still very much part of the performance. It was almost impossible to fight off the urge to look around and gauge how others were processing the show. In particular, there were a couple of kids—such a rarity in the Queen’s bubble—who laughed, squirmed and whispered throughout the spectacle. These children, far from being an unwelcome distraction, were in fact a great addition to the Soundbox experience.
While the shadow component of the show was interesting, it could have been better if the shadows had been projected more evenly around the Soundbox. The majority of these projections fell onto the back wall of the Soundbox, which in some ways undermined the Soundbox’s chaotic seating arrangement. Because most audience members ended up turning their chairs to face the back wall in order to see these shadowscapes better, the Soundbox’s visual component ended up conditioning audience reactions more than was optimal for its audio-mandate.
Not surprisingly, the Into the Magic Soundbox experience is rather difficult to convey effectively in words. Suffice to say that it’s an entirely unique entertainment experience that dishes out bowls of food for thought about our reliance on the visual and what it means to be an audience member. Next time it rolls around, be sure to check it out if you haven’t yet had the opportunity.
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