I was somewhat reluctant to write this post; not because I didn’t love the show – I loved it very much and spent most of it grinning ear to ear, or near tears – but because when I post about a show I’ve loved, I want people to be able to go and book it. However, for We Have a Situation, you don’t have that luxury, hence why this post is coming out so much later after I saw the show.
We Have a Situation ran only for one week, from the 2nd-6th December 2020, to trial the show, see how it would be received, and to see if there were any issues that needed ironing out. I was a lucky audience member who got to experience it. I love Immersive Theatre. I love Parabolic Theatre, so of course….this was no exception.
We Have A Situation is the latest show to come from Parabolic Theatre…and you can tell. It is very much a Parabolic Theatre show – through and through. You can see that clearly: by how much fun it is, by how fleshed out the world is that they have created, and how the structure of the show is reminiscent of their previous hugely popular shows For King and Country and Crisis? What Crisis?. However this show has an added element to it, something I don’t think I’ve ever seen in any immersive theatre show before… Something that added an extra layer of fun and drama, heightening everything. For the first time, when you are playing We Have A Situation, there are two shows running simultaneously, with two casts and two sets of audience members. You are directly playing across them; so, all your speeches, decisions, every action are directly received by the parallel show and counteracted by them. This means that instead of someone in the cast doing the responding to whatever you do, it’s an audience member that has control. How cool is that!?
The show starts out similarly to most Parabolic shows; it is Mazeppa day! A day of celebrating the great nation and place you live! Everyone is (remotely) gathered, cast and audience members alike. You are introduced to all the cast, it’s all very lovely! What could possibly go wrong?
Well… Something drastic happens. It’s drama and chaos galore from there.
If you’ve been to any Parabolic show before, you, more than likely, have an idea what it is like but what is it that goes wrong? In We Have a Situation, it’s a terrorism threat. Dark and extreme. What I appreciate about this, however, is how respectfully Parabolic put this twist into the show, without the use of stereotype. It’s not like the threats you see in the media but, instead, it’s quite reminiscent to the sorts of threats you see in video games or films. This is a topic that can feel a bit too close to home, but Parabolic have handled this topic appropriately and with care.
Following the threat, amidst the panic, and tasked to try to resolve things as quickly as possible (naturally, easier said than done), audience members are given a rundown of the specialties of all the characters from defense to relations to press. From there, you can choose which breakout room you want to join, depending on what sparks your interest, where you can offer your assistance or where you want to try your hand, to decide what happens in that area. This is similar to deciding what areas you want to assist in in For King and Country! (I told you this was a Parabolic show – through and through!). What I really like is that if you choose a breakout room to explore for one part of the show, you still have the freedom to change and explore other areas in other parts of the show, so you still have that freedom, even over the internet!
Besides the terrorism threat, there are also some slight…. cold feelings to your opposing side of Mazeppa. You have North Mazeppa and South Mazeppa, or, commonly known as, the Commonwealth and the Republic. I was on the Republic side, playing opposite to the separate zoom production holding the Commonwealth. If dealing with a terrorism threat wasn’t enough, you’re also trying to maintain peace between both sides of Mazeppa. A civil war cannot break out, and the civilians living in Mazeppa must be kept in the dark, to enjoy Mazeppa day celebrations. Easy, right? Totally… You can’t say there isn’t enough to do! Guaranteed no matter how timid or outgoing you are, you’ll find an area that will take your interest, and something you can do to contribute that will help, no matter how big nor small.
Sidenote: it does help if you know how to work Zoom… unlike me. I spent a part of the show wondering if I was just so useless. Everything I said got no response… Until someone pointed out halfway through that I was still on mute. Oops? But if it is any reassurance – despite this, and my not knowing, I was still having a great time! I still felt really invested and it got my heart pumping! So, if a show can do that to me, with me unknowingly being on mute, it must be good!
With all this going on, it goes without saying that tensions are high, and steadily rising. More and more things start to go wrong throughout the show (I am deliberately being as vague as possible because as far as I am aware, the show will return, and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone). What I do quite like though, is that every so often everyone is re-grouped together. This is the time to share the progress you’ve made, anything of use that you have found, and receive updates on the current situation in Mazeppa. This summary works to keep everyone up to speed and is a nice way to hear how other groups are doing in areas you may not have visited yet or may not visit at all. With quite a large audience for each show, it’s nice to see your fellow comrades, and bounce ideas off of people, audience and actors alike, that you may otherwise only encounter briefly. Furthermore, these regular regrouping and summary sections are particularly helpful as a reminder of what you are all working towards, what you have achieved thus far, and a reminder of tasks left to complete.
Furthermore, there was one part of the show I found quite exciting… okay, there were a few parts of the show I found exciting… fine, the whole show. Anyway, I digress.
I want to talk about one part in particular. There’s a section of the show where some audience members prepare for a summit between the two sides of Mazeppa in order to find some common ground, and, at the very least, form a peaceful relationship to be able to tolerate each other, and perhaps attempt to gain control of the terrorism threat that is still very much looming over everyone’s heads. With the parallel zoom show happening on the other side of Mazeppa, when the time comes, you get to either be directly involved in the giving of the summit, or watch it happen live! How cool is that?! Not only do you get to be involved in preparations for this and decide what you wish to bring to the table, you get to watch it pan out live. You have people from both sides coming together face to face for the first time, discussing (or arguing, depending on how it goes) the future of Mazeppa.
There is also some rather clever technology used in the show that I won’t even pretend I understand the inner workings of or how team Parabolic have made it happen. Throughout the show, one group is given the task of sending out agents on missions. This is something previously done in For King and Country, and something COLAB Theatre Productions have also done in Crooks: 1926. In these shows, when the mission is underway, you, as the audience, hear what happens live through audio transcription. In We Have A Situation, you don’t just hear what happens: you see it on screen right in front of you, using what looks like a bodycam and video game technology (my brother has taught me to recognise that, at least!) you receive a play by play of what the agent on the ground is doing.
Not only do you watch your agent, but you can also all communicate with them too! Whilst the mission is underway, there are times when there may be a slight dilemma as to what to do next. So, who decides? Not the agent. Not the cast members. The audience members, of course. As soon as you send out an order, you can see your agent respond and follow it through! This added so much more tension for me in the show – it made it feel more real, it raised the stakes on the audience with a life literally being at risk, whilst having to just sit and watch to see if anything went wrong, knowing there is nothing you could do if it did.
On the topic of cool and clever use of technology, there is something else I want to mention that I loved. Within the show, you get to see news footage of both Northern and Southern Mazeppa, usually a live broadcast based on the decisions you make, replicating media headquarters. But you may also get leaked footage of the news from across the Mazeppan border, found by some very clever audience members in the show. I really appreciated this added extra, being able to see live news footage not only from my side, but the other side too. It’s an added element that just makes everything feel more real and authentic.
In true Parabolic style, I already know the show has a multitude of directions it can head in, depending on the audience’s decisions. It’s basically guaranteed that the show has many multiple endings. The ending I saw – without giving anything away – was all of us watching a mission carry out, with no clue as to whether it would be successful. My heart was in my throat and it was hugely dramatic. It felt like the show had been building and building to this tense finale. I won’t tell you how it ended completely, but it was quite memorable, and yes…I did cry (Cue absolutely no one being shocked at that whatsoever).
And that is We Have a Situation. I appreciate this is a very vague post and quite unlike my usual type, but that is deliberate. With such a short run to test the waters, I have high hopes for a return of this show. I’m sure that whilst there will be changes, there will also be some parts of the show that will stay the same. I am attempting to keep an element of surprise for you all to experience it yourself when you inevitably book upon the return.
This is normally where I would leave a link and encourage everyone to wholeheartedly book but given this show was in exceedingly early previews, I cannot… Instead, I will just reassure you all on this. I had tremendous fun playing We Have A Situation, as I do with every game Parabolic Theatre releases. I, for one, will be keeping a close eye on their socials for any hints to a new show, or content. Whilst I can’t encourage you to book for any shows at the moment, I can encourage you to join me in doing that.
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One Show at a Time 