Play Inside presents a powerful new form of immersive audio story experience, written as an inner monologue, listened to through a mobile device on headphones. The audience is asked to mirror the actions of the character as they move about their own homes, simple actions like washing your hands, or looking out of a window. This new form enables shared moments of physical and emotional intimacy and the chance to glimpse into another person’s world. Play Inside tells untold stories, from unusual perspectives informed by first hand experiences, deepening our compassion and understanding for other people’s lived experiences
Play Inside – Series 2: How to be a Real Man or The Availability of Air follows the stories of five people who have experienced something outside of their control, without their permission. It is a selection of five short embodied audio stories from writers from Palestine, Egypt and the UK, funded by the British Council International Collaboration Fund and directed by UK artists Michelle Roche and Rosie Poebright (Splash & Ripple) in collaboration with Dawar Arts, Egypt and The Freedom Theatre, Palestine. The stories’ varied origin countries are a reminder of the universality of experiences while highlighting the significant cultural differences that each individual faces. Three of the writers remain anonymous, to protect their safety.
Seven Souls, by Angham Ibrahim, is set in Egypt. The story traces a stream of shisha bubbles through the imagination of Jouska, who has traversed many selves through violence in order to live, and dance, and smoke. Seven Souls explores the damage that can be done by family expectations and how a young woman can seemingly have survived many lives. Another Egyptian story, Another World by M.S., examines what it takes to get through days that are so hard, protagonist Youssef imagines another reality to cope. Another World is a melancholic journey through Youssef’s past, through relationships and pain, leading him to fantasies of a place where he can love who he wants and is loved for who he is.
It’s only sex, right? by Michelle Roche is set in the UK and plays out in real time for the listener. Witnessing the first meeting of Meesh, a 40 year old woman hoping to be a single mother by choice and a pushy sperm donor, for the first artificial insemination. It’s only sex, right? asks ‘when is a choice not a choice?’ and unravels the complexity of morality and coercion; a fictional story that belongs to so many women.
Uneasy Listening by Anonymous (Palestine) is set in Palestine under occupation. When Salma can’t go outside, listening becomes her meditation. Uneasy Listening explores what it means to normalise life under siege and the distortion of time when it’s controlled by outside forces. The Scar by another Anonymous writer from Palestine revolves around family bonds. Fatima’s story shines a light on how oppression in the home can reflect the oppression of a country. Fatima and her brother both left home a few years ago, but she was the one who came back. Memories of their close childhood friendship meander through the incidents that led them to their distant present.
All of the stories in Series 2 are about people who have experienced something outside of their control without their permission. Within each story the character finds a way to escape and find air. There is power in sharing stories; witnessing survivors’ perspectives shifts the power back into their hands. These stories transport the listener from homes in Egypt to England and to Palestine. They may not always be easy to listen to, but it is important that they are heard and that there are witnesses to the complexity of lives, and the resilience of people fighting for air and remembering to breathe.
Play Inside tells untold stories from unusual perspectives informed by first hand experiences, deepening our compassion and understanding for other people’s lived experiences.
