Accomplice is a theatrical experience unlike any found on a stage, taking its audience on a mysterious journey through the city streets. Sending its audience on a trek through the South Bank of London, participants are sent on a mission, aided by clues and mysterious cast members strewn throughout various locations such as street corners, pubs, out of the way shops, and iconic locations. Audiences in groups of 10 traverse the city streets, piecing together clues of a meticulously crafted plot. Who's in on it? Who's not? Accomplice is an experience you won't soon forget. Using the sprawling backdrop of the city as its stage, utilizing elements of improv theatre and scavenger hunt, Accomplice will make you laugh, think, and experience the city in a whole new way. 10 participants per performance.
Thrown together with another random eight or nine customers, you meet up at an arts venue that isn’t the Menier, but very close by (you get the call on your mobile the day before). There has been a heist, a murder, a conspiracy against you, and you’re an accomplice. Watch your back, stay close, think sharp.
Off you go, with the others, finding and solving clues, bumping into shifty civilians (actors), on a tour of the immediate district, an area that includes lots of pubs, dank cellars, Southwark Cathedral, the South Bank and a forgotten rose garden; there, unattached to the performance, two teenage girls are snogging each other as we scratch our heads and fumble with the evidence.
Tom Salamon’s participatory promenade show - following a blueprint tried out in New York and California - is so much better than en route in Edinburgh, because there is a real propulsion to the mission, and it’s more fun with other people. I’m better at crosswords than codes, and our group of eight nearly fell at the last fence, but there is always a safety-net number to ring.
It was somehow comforting to find Oliver Senton of School of Night and Showstopper in the small cast. But is it theatre? More like a very good hunt-the-thimble charade at a surprise party. Good mental work-out and physical exercise, though: you’re on your toes, and on your feet, for nearly three hours.
It’s going to be hard to write about this without giving away too much…..
The day before we were due to attend a man, who I later discovered was in character, called me on my mobile with instructions. The same man collected us at the appointed time at the exact location and thus began what can best be described as a mystery / treasure hunt where our group of 10 had to solve clues that took us a further six locations in Southwark, indoor and outdoor, where we met a further six characters. Along the way there was ice cream, beer, Pimms and chips! The tale that hangs it all together isn’t particularly strong, but it’s well constructed, excellently played, very sociable and on a sunny Sunday afternoon, a whole lot of fun. Warmly recommended. - Gareth James
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