Ontroerend Goed - A Game of You

Ontroerend Goed: A Game of You

Ontroerend Goed - A Game of YouTo be honest I don’t quite know how to write about A Game of You without giving said game away. And that would utterly spoil the experience for you… but I can share a flavour of this craftily brilliant piece of work.

The experience is the third in the company’s acclaimed series of works that explore the personal, following After the Smile Off Your Face and Internal. Based in Ghent, the company comprises six performers and technician Bebette Poncelet – although you will only meet two or three of this team. We enter a cosy, red-curtained little enclave one at a time, in intervals of five minutes. Facing a mirror, I am immediately faced with my own reflection (how is my hair?) and faced with decisions to make. Should I touch the plastic dolls or the lamp? Should I write on the notepad? I stay in my seat. A man enters and takes his seat next to me. He tells me that the plastic doll reminds him of his ex-boyfriend, but he has to leave him behind in order to move on with his life. But he’s talking about himself too much – after all, this is about me.

I’m invited to walk through the curtain… One of the pleasures of the experience is the not knowing. It would be completely different with pre-knowledge, as it requires your honesty and an ability to be in the moment. It compels your gut reactions and tests your openness and/or guardedness. It gently interrogates how well you know yourself and how you see yourself. It revels in our discomfort when asked to look at ourselves directly. It demands that for a few moments (the piece is only half an hour long) we take some time to cross-examine how we think we appear to others and how we feel about that.

As well as probing the concept of the self, it plays with our prejudices and ability to make surface decisions about those strangers we happen to end up talking to – or simply judging from afar. This set-up is not as deftly considered as the more personal elements but it does result in a charming token to take away with you and cherish and/or burn! The entire enterprise is masterfully crafted. The technical and logistical achievement is as remarkable as the extremely impressive performances – the cast never has a moment to sit back in the knowledge that they know what they are doing. It is an utterly live experience, and cannot exist without us. After all – this is all about you…