All Falls Down. VAULT Festival.

All Falls Down, currently playing inside a dark and damp shipping container at the VAULT festival, sees creator and performer Joe Strickland deliver an engaging hour of immersive interactive storytelling that owes more than a little to noughties TV series Lost. The audience of 15 or so, packed like sardines in a can, are assigned the roles of a group of former university friends, caught up in the aftermath of a perilous plane crash deep in the forbidding wilderness of the American Pacific-Northwest. Will we all survive the unforgiving terrain to contact civilisation and reach safety, or will some of us succumb to the mysterious dangers that lie in wait in the forest?

The audience’s actions and reactions decide how the narrative, part suspense with a sci-fi twist and part group problem-solving exercise, evolve. In theory, this means the show is never the same two performances in a row. In reality, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs tells us most audiences are going to prioritise obtaining food, heat, shelter and safety over esoteric musings on the mysteries of the forest. This makes Strickland’s task as storyteller a little more predictable than it might otherwise be. Nevertheless, anticipate mysterious animal tracks in the woods, and narrative twists and turns aplenty from a performer with an impressive ability to think on his feet.

There is a twist. Every time the group makes a decision that moves the story line forward in a substantial way, one individual is called upon to remove a block from a Jenga tower and replace it on top. As the tower becomes increasingly unstable, what is at stake for the survivors becomes increasingly more urgent. When the tower falls our fate is revealed. The press night audience adopted the mantra that if you are kind to the environment, it will be kind back. Did it work? Find out for yourself.

Writer and Director: Joe Strickland