Podplays - The Quartet, PuSh Festival

Podplays – The Quartet was one of the main shows during the PuSh Festival. It consists of four radio plays that take you on an hour’s walk along the Waterfront to the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The walk commences in the atrium of the downtown SFU campus where pairs of two people take off every five minutes. We were sent an mp3 file through email ahead of time or we could rent Ipod players and headphones when we arrive to check-in. We were given a map and phone number to call the help-line in case we get lost.

The first story is about a couple reminiscing their relationship and each other. It takes you up the stairs and elevator to the parking lot. Through the parking lot is an elevator that takes you down to Gastown. From Cordova, you turn and cross the street and walk towards Main and Alexander where the next story would begin.

Each vignette provided a different atmosphere, narrator, and soundtrack. Occasionally, I would be told to observe the buildings, pubs, and streets around me. Sometimes the protagonist would describe some history of a building or some event that happened along the shoreline. Some parts of the story were quite abstract, merely a reflection of the character’s thoughts and feelings. Other parts allude to the environment or history of Vancouver.

My main highlight is the long walk in the underground passageway of Canada Place and the Convention Centre. The passageway was mainly for cars and it was quite dark. After a long time (just as I was feeling tired), we were led through an Easy Park parking lot and up the elevator. Once the doors opened, it was a bright view of the Plaza facing the Convention Centre. In contrast to the dark passageway, the tall buildings and paved ground was a beautiful and magnificent change that really motivated the remainder of the walk.

However, at one point during that underground walk, the narrator was being very annoying. He kept apologizing “sorry, sorry…” for about twenty times and I couldn’t quite follow the story because of the cars rushing by. Some parts of the walk were quite frustrating because their directions weren’t completely clear. At one point, they asked you to go to the corner but didn’t specify left or right. At another point, they expected you to stand still and wait for their story to finish unfolding. Then suddenly, they would tell you to sprint across another parking lot; stop; and look at the red fire hydrant. We would either be ahead or behind the narration during our walk. 

I felt that the stories were quite general and not particularly creative. Other than giving me commands to my direction, I felt that it could have incorporated more relevance to my walk, the area, and to the story being told. It's difficult to listen to people talk for such a long period of time while walking. But as an interactive show, I quite enjoyed the overall experience. As a performance show, the audience is a part of the performance act and has a lot of control. I can choose to stop listening, to pause the show, or to follow every instruction. It is also a unique way to familiarize myself with the area. I enjoy the overlap of sound- the cars beside me, the street, my confused comments with my boyfriend, and the music and story playing in my earphones. 

MP3 (It's 65 mins): I'm not sure if posting it up to share online is permitted because it is created by a team of artists but I have it if anyone is interested to hear a bit of it. I did pay $20 for it!
Main Website Link: PuSh Festival - Podplays
Other Reviews: GEIST