QUARANTINE

something a taxi driver in Liverpool said….

outline of the production

Theatre for the soul
Grania McFadden, BBC Radio Belfast

something a taxi driver in Liverpool said… is an eight-and-a-half minute journey in total darkness, full of sound and smell, made alone. It smells of stuff you thought you'd forgotten and stuff at the edge of your memory and stuff that's so familiar you can't smell it any more. 

Every single visitor invents their own journey and takes their experience as far as they choose.
The very personal origins of the piece develop a universal resonance, evoking strong memories and emotions in its audience.   

Astounding.  A blessing. Moving.  Emotional.  Challenging. 
Entertaining. Stimulating.  Perfectly written. Angry.  Peaceful. 
Beginning middle and beautiful end.  I wish it never did.                        
Lemn Sissay, Poet
 
something a taxi driver in Liverpool said… was created by Renny O’Shea during an At Home residency at Contact, Manchester in April 2001.  It has since been re-created for a number of other venues and festivals, most recently for the Vancouver East Cultural Centre’s Festival of British Installation Theatre in Vancouver, Canada in October 2005.

I don't often carry the memory of a theatrical event in my feet. As I type this, though, and recall something a taxi driver in Liverpool said…, I can feel the flesh and bones inside my shoes expanding in a sort of humble rapture. There's a note of hunger, too. My feet want more.
Straight Times, Vancouver, October 2005

something a taxi driver in Liverpool said… remains in Quarantine’s portfolio to be recreated for other venues.

The piece works particularly well in a festival context.  The ideal scenario would be to install it for the entire duration of a festival, to give the maximum opportunity for people to experience and talk about it.  It needs a minimum run of 5 days of performances with a 2 day get-in and 1 day to get out.  With our usual team of 3 performers, there’s a maximum of 5 hours of performance each day, which allows an audience of 30 people per day (6 per hour x 5 hours), but with a larger team of performers, longer days are possible.

If theatre seeks to transport an audience, to inspire, enlighten or even change how we see our lives, then Quarantine's production was a winner on all counts. All this in only 10 minutes. . . radical!
BBC Northern Ireland

artist biography

Renny O’Shea is an artist whose work explores the potential of performance for all the senses. Renny is one of the artistic directors of Quarantine which she set up with Simon Banham and Richard Gregory in 1998.  For Quarantine she has created and directed EatEat, a performance taking the form of a meal shared by audience and performers, made with and performed by refugees and recent arrivals in Leicester.  She recreated this piece as Rantsoen (ration) for Victoria in Gent.  Most recently she co-directed Susan & Darren, which is currently on tour around the UK. 

company history and background

Quarantine make theatre characterised by a spirit of invention combined with a quiet commitment to creating intimate contact with reality.  Each project investigates the world around us and asks questions for which we have no ready answers.  A piece of theatre by Quarantine has deliberate raw edges – a sense of possibility rather than finality.  We invent an appropriate theatrical form for each new piece and work with both trained and untrained performers according to the needs of each individual project.

Quarantine won Arts Council England North West’s art05 award for outstanding achievement.

“Quarantine is a remarkable theatre company that has created a body of beautiful, fragile and authentic work, which finds the extraordinary in the ordinary lives of real people.”
Lyn Gardner, The Guardian, November 2006

Previous work

2000
Tramway, Glasgow	see-saw
A performance taking place within two opposite seating banks, where 75 performers are intermingled with the audience	
2001
Contact, Manchester	something a taxi driver in Liverpool said… 
An eight-and-a-half minute journey in total darkness for one person at a time, full of sounds and smells.	
2002
Northern Stage, Newcastle	Frank
The audience travel one at a time through a series of 10 interconnecting rooms, encountering performers and each other on the way.	
2003
Leicester Haymarket, Leicester	EatEat
A performance which takes the form of a meal shared by audience and performers, created with and performed by refugees.	
2003
Northern Stage, Newcastle	Geneva
A visual feast exploring love, mountaineering and hallucination in a space strewn with 750 light bulbs	
2004
Contact, Manchester	White Trash
A dirty ballet of reality, created with and performed by 7 young, white, working class men.	
2004
Victoria, Gent, Belgium	Rantsoen (Flemish: ‘ration’)  
A new version of EatEat created with and performed by newcomers to Gent	
2004
Tramway, Glasgow	Butterfly
A large-scale party created with and performed by three generations of a Glasgow family 	
2005
Contact, Manchester	Grace
An attempt to squeeze a city into a theatre, featuring a toddler and his mother, an elderly singer and a Manchester guitar band	
2006
Contact, Manchester & touring	Susan & Darren
Dancing, devastation and a lovely buffet created with and performed by dancer Darren Pritchard and his mum, Susan	

QUARANTINE

something a taxi driver in Liverpool said….

journey description

Entrance/Exit 

A few seats, a functional space, maybe some flowers.  An usher tells you to take off your shoes off + leave them once you’re inside.  You open the door…

Beginning Space

An old lady’s sitting room – smells of mothballs + lavender + pee + old books.  A rocking chair, a radio, a half drunk cup of tea – still hot.  A Czech man’s voice. You open the door…

Main Space

Darkness.  Earth under your feet.  Smell of jasmine.  A tweedy jacket smelling of the stables lands on your shoulders.  A few steps forward – bead curtains that sound like rain as you pass through.  Your jacket slips off your shoulders.  

Sounds of… waves? A heartbeat? The inside of your head?

Underfoot hay.  A dusty corner – honeycomb in a basket buried underneath. Something – cobwebs? string? touches your face, something rustles above you.

Grass takes you to the sound of dripping water.  A real drip into an old metal bucket.  A damp musty jacket hangs – a book in the pocket. 

When you are too scared there is always a soft presence to guide you.  If you want to explore alone, you can.  If you leave the comfort of the walls you find yourself on warm sand.  A velvet covered box.  You open it – the smell of violets and the sound of the sea – when you close the lid the sound disappears.  

In the corner, soft feathers under your feet.  Frankincense.   Soft notes chime high above you.  You touch – what?  An enormous wing – it quivers, flies away.
  
A cool breeze on your face and the fresh smell of mint and oranges.  

You open the door…

End Space

Red silk curtains – like a tiny circus tent.  Grass on the floor.  A chair.  A lantern. 

Your shoes!

You sit to put them on and hear the taxi story whispered.  As you’re ready to leave a cinema usher appears in her party frock – tray lined with red velvet, bowls of dolls eyes, black feathers, parma violets.  She asks:  What will you take with you?  You leave.   The sound of birdsong and a distant dog barking. 
 
You open the door… You are back where you started. 

QUARANTINE

something a taxi driver in Liverpool said….

technical specifications
Set

•	The set packs into a 3.25m2 (35 feet2) area

•	The set fits into a long wheelbase transit van 

•	Local availability of turf, hay and earth (amounts depend on size of venue)

Space

•	The show takes place in 3 areas : 

1.	a small constructed room (we tour this set) : 2.5m (length)  x 2.5m (width)     
x 2.5 m (height) – this can sit in main space if space is large enough
2.	an installation in main space with total blackout
3.	a small tented area (2.5m x 2.5m)

•	Size of performance space very flexible: ideally 6m x 6m with adjacent small space eg corridor or adjoining room 

•	Total blackout is essential in main space 

•	There must be 2 separate doors into space : 1 entrance, 1 exit

Light

•	No lighting is required in main space other than emergency light

•	Light ( 1 parcan or similar) for exit corridor is desirable

•	Power source 230-240V

Sound

•	PA system plus speakers – sound operated from within space

•	We tour 2 mini disk players

•	Power source 230-240V

Get-in and get-out

•	Minimum 2 day get-in to build installation plus minimum of 4 hours for performers to familiarise with space in dark

•	2 venue technicians required to support get-in + de-rig

Company

•	5 people touring: 3 performers, 1 technician, 1 tour manager

QUARANTINE

something a taxi driver in Liverpool said….

endorsements, press and audience feedback

ENDORSEMENT

Lemn Sissay, Poet:

Astounding.  A blessing.  Moving.  Emotional.  Challenging.  Entertaining.  Stimulating.  Perfectly written.  Angry.  Peaceful.  Beginning, middle and beautiful end.  I wish it never did.

PRESS

Charlene Dunlop, BBC Northern Ireland / Irish News, 13/11/02:

As the Old Museum Arts Centre continues to play host to innovative theatre, last week it challenged audiences to take 'one step further': how can darkness shed light on the simple things of this life?

Something a Taxi Driver in Liverpool said… momentarily transported anyone who dared take part, to the 'world-within-their-senses'. Quarantine (Manchester based) took each solo audience member by the hand (literally at points!) into an unnerving world of the black unknown. Even if removing socks and shoes proved a daunting prerequisite for some, the journey that unfolded was the real challenge - stranded in complete darkness - there was no light switch, no 'phone-a-friend'! Faced with the unknown there is always an element of panic; faced in complete darkness - it's sheer terror!

Our only guide to call upon for this trip was the inner-self. As your feet cautiously felt for each step forward into an unknown abyss, there was gentle reassurance by a familiar soft surface - sand. While a warm hand allowed tiny grains to run through your fingers, a forceful power back to life's simplicity swept the status quo and outside worries of the worlds we had left, behind.

Creator Renny O'Shea's clever synergy of smells and sounds invited you to relax and engage in the moment - to indulge your senses. No sooner had warm sand cajoled you to let go of your fears, than it was replaced by grass, which gave way to mud and ultimately a wade through freezing cold water! The exhilarating sound of crashing waves reminded us that some risks are invigorating, and what make life fun.

This performance was a fleeting, but nonetheless ingenious, stride away from the consumer-crazy, techno jungle. It brought us back to the essence of life that is so quickly forgotten amid daily demands society and responsibility thrust upon us. Even if there was some sand still between our toes as we reclaimed our shoes at the end, there was a spring in our step! (So attested by the comments book signed by those exiting this experience).

If theatre seeks to transport an audience, to inspire, enlighten or even change how we see our lives, then Quarantine's production was a winner on all counts. All this in only 10 minutes. . . radical!"

Grannia McFadden, Belfast Telegraph & BBC Radio Belfast, 30/10/02:

It takes the light from the sun eight minutes and 30 seconds to reach the earth - and that's exactly the same length of time it takes to experience this special piece of theatre.

From the moment you enter the auditorium to the time you step back into the outside world, Renny O'Shea's magical journey will take you far away from the madding crowd.

To describe what happens would be to cheat anyone who is planning to go. I will tell you that each person travels alone. Don't worry, it's fine.

Every show is different - the experience is what you make it, and you choose your destination. Each traveller moves - like the earth - from darkness into light, and almost all five senses are employed during the trip.

I know, you're none the wiser. All I can say is that eight minutes has never passed so quickly, and the only downside of this emotional, beautiful and peaceful production is that it comes to an end.

Some theatre celebrates language, while some relies on visual impact. This very special production is theatre for the soul.

Robin Greer,  Belfast News Letter, 30/10/02:

You might find this nightmarish, intrusive, threatening and disturbing, or playful and fun.  I found it calming, surreal and quite beautiful.

“Wait until you hear the rattle, then go into the room and take your socks and shoes off” are the instructions as you go into ‘something a taxi driver in Liverpool said…’.  They sound like something a nurse would tell you as you await a doctor, and in a way this is something similar.

It’s only 8 minutes and 30 seconds long, and the audience is ushered one at a time into a performance that is part installation, part experience (and this is a time when it is legitimate to use that much overused word).

It is a deeply personal experience: passing through a twee floral wallpaper cell, you enter a realm of complete darkness, where strange things happen to you, where you relinquish control and let sounds, smells and touches happen.

In this altered state you experience Tantric theatre, a gentle massaging of your senses and exploration of your mind, as innocent fantasies and hidden memories are coaxed back into a dreamy consciousness.

3 Weeks Daily, Edinburgh, 22/08/03

“I have been privileged, this festival, to experience some of the most interesting stuff around; Something a Taxi Driver in Liverpool Said… falls into this category.  The problem is, I feel I would be betraying the show to tell you much about it.  You walk alone and barefoot through pitch-black rooms, feeling, smelling, listening or tasting (if you dare), occasionally led by an invisible guide.  It is wonderfully calm, if a little scary; it took me a while to move once in.  The peace in the solitude is unmatched in the entire Festival and leaves you with a feeling of immense beauty.”

Colin Thomas, Straight Times, Vancouver, 13/10/05

I don't often carry the memory of a theatrical event in my feet. As I type this, though, and recall something a taxi driver in Liverpool said…, I can feel the flesh and bones inside my shoes expanding in a sort of humble rapture. There's a note of hunger, too. My feet want more.

Something a taxi driver in Liverpool said… was part of British Installation Theatre Week. On some level, all four of the week's presentations are about intimacy and humanizing scale.  Taxi driver particularly excites me because the usual rules of going to the theatre don't apply. It's up to you as an audience member to take responsibility for your experience.

If the show were still running, I'd leave you to your own course of discovery, but it has left town so I'll tell you about mine. The company, Quarantine, creates an event for one audience member at a time. It takes about 10 minutes to walk through it. The stage manager led me to the loading door of the Vancouver East Cultural Centre's basement. Before opening it, he told me to leave my shoes and socks beside the rocking chair I'd find inside. Then he let me into a small room covered in pink floral wallpaper. As I sat in the rocker, I faced another door and a voice started encouraging me to open it. It said something like, "It's important that you open the door, if you find a mirror on the other side, or even if you only find the sound of the wind…"

Unsure whether or not my action was precipitous, I turned the handle and stepped forward before the voice had stopped talking, plunging myself into total darkness. I hate enclosed, enforced darkness; I get claustrophobic. But I could feel dirt beneath my naked feet, maybe grass, and that was reassuring. I found a wall on my left and felt my way. All sorts of textures - cloth, wood, burlap. Under my feet: sand, cement, and - a burst of luxury and childhood memory - straw. A woman's hand slipped into mine and led me to a bucket where we washed. Hands arrived and disappeared a couple of times - only there for a few moments, always tender.

My left foot kicked a cloth-covered box. It emitted a sound like breath. I knelt and opened it. A louder breath, perhaps a sigh, came from the box.

There were long minutes when I was on my own, wondering if I was lost. Eventually, a hand led me toward a door. I opened it and found another room. A chair sat on a circle of turf, my shoes and socks neatly placed in front of it. I sat down and a voice started talking about something a taxi driver in Liverpool said. It was about how people reveal themselves in the dark. I felt exhilarated, triumphant.

SELECTION OF AUDIENCE REMARKS FROM COMMENTS BOOK:

“One of the most beautiful experiences I’ve ever had anywhere. “ 

“Thank you to my only friend in the room.  For that 10 minutes in my life you were my bestest friend, I felt like a little girl again at the beach, giggling with you.  Thank you friend.”

“When you pass through a tunnel on a train and all you can see is a reflection of yourself…Enjoyed how gentle hands can be and how beautiful a woman’s laugh.”

“…encourages you to walk away physically while mentally retaining and considering the art of living.”

“Very moving for reasons I just don’t understand.  Wanted to stay for hours.  Would want everyone I know to experience it.”

“There I was feeling for the parameters, asking what should be done next – that was all experience.  The emotions came at the end – not happy, not sad, just content.”

“Magical.  Brought up a lot of stuff for me about fear and darkness and trust and abandonment.  I couldn’t go in for a long time because I was too scared, but then the sensations were really beautiful – a bit like life really, getting over fear, stepping out of a safe space and abandoning myself and then experiencing the delight.”

“…told me a lot about myself I already knew but pretended wasn’t there…”

“Water, a sense of calm.  Safety.  Enclosed yet a feeling of great space at times – as though I could sweep my arms wide.  A secret was told.  Sad but uplifting.  Thank you.”

“Enveloped in darkness, I felt like a child again.  To be led by the hand by a friend, and prompted to experience was a revelation.”

“I was at peace here. This time was for me - I felt happy. Slowly returning to a time in my life where fear of the dark was not present and had not yet been experienced…My body became less and less the physical self I have demanded it to be in the visual world. I became more of my own essence as opposed a physical entity. My senses were fusing with the atmosphere around me. My imagination began to spark creating in my minds eye images for my journey as an abstract forest of greens and blues… It echoed to memory I had in Tehran with my grandmother and this moment was beautiful…like I had just fallen in love again with my child self.  My boundaries had been blurred and I wasn’t aware if my eyes were open or closed time had expanded and contracted the details of my unknown environment. Being born again into the audio-visual saturated world I felt a bombardment of information yet I had with me a beautiful secret gift in my heart.”

"Bloody marvellous…all this for £2 - what a bargain!"