A theatrical experience just for one – written a few years ago, but appropriately being performed now, ‘You Can Have It All’ is on at Potts Point, Sydney. Writer director, Laurence Rosier Staines has said that he is “interested in the blurring of fact and fiction, narrativising, … and human agency”. The show succeeds in adopting all these elements.

The sole audience member is told to meet in a laneway in a suburb once renowned for its crime. Led up a narrow staircase into a dwelling and asked to join a person binge watching a TV soap. She chats to you, filling you in on the basic background and relationships of the characters. This is the start of a journey through several rooms as one morphs from viewer to participant. At times these two perspectives blur during the dramatic tale of romance, seduction and crime. Blackmail and murder involving local council members adds to the intrigue. A stylish wardrobe, makeup and the art deco setting enhances the atmosphere. There are script dialogue instructions given to the audience through an earpiece. It forces a different perspective to that of shouting at actors on the TV for those who get very invested in soaps.

Being in the unknown environment is challenging yet perhaps strangely familiar if you’ve watched enough soaps. It is slightly unnerving fun, though there are sufficient guides / performers so that one never feels alone nor adrift. The participation performance generally runs for a minimum of twenty minutes. The twists during those minutes make for an intense experience and the immersion is visceral. The viewer is finally led out into the outside world, left wanting to see and experience another episode.

‘You Can Have It All’ is on for three more days: Sunday 6th December sessions from 3-8pm, Wed 9th and Thursday 10th December 6.30-10pm, Tickets: https://www.ychia.com.au/#tickets