Guest Blog: Rob Drummond on Providing Covid-Era Community with 'Open Mic'

When ETT approached me about making a theatre show which would most likely have to be shown digitally my first thought was ... how can we call that theatre? From the beginning I was anxious, as with all my work, to keep the audience vital, active and (if they liked) participatory. How do you do that when they aren't with you in the venue?

The idea for Open Mic began as a topical talk show format where audience members would call in to the show and have unscripted exchanges with me about everything going on in the news. But it became quickly apparent that, as there was only one thing going on in the news, the show would, unavoidably, have to be about Covid.

But don't audiences want to escape the misery of the virus, rather than watch an entire show about it while it is still ongoing? From this seeming problem the show was born. What if we provided an escape from Covid: an open mic night full of the fun we've all been missing but featuring a kind of communal sharing of stories, concerns, and hopes for the future? After all, no matter how much fun you're having these days, it's utterly impossible not to view that fun through the lens of the virus.

This brings me to another benefit of not running from the problem but rather leaning into it: embracing the universal backdrop of the show rather than pretending it doesn't exist. This is perhaps the first show I've ever done where I can be absolutely certain that every single audience member gets the investigation of the show. There is not a single person, worldwide, that hasn't lived this, in one way or another. Never have we had an audience so united in its collective understanding of an issue. To simply present a piece of escapist theatre would be, considering the type of work I tend to make, an unforgivable waste of a unique situation.

And so came an open mic night and this chance to present a show that allows the audience each night to take very real ownership of the piece. Here they can sing, dance, joke, recite or juggle as they wish and also have the chance to genuinely share what they've found tough, what they've actually enjoyed and what they would have done differently in lockdown.

The venue is perfect for a cabaret type night - downstairs in Soho Theatre. The audience is live there with me in the space but digitally, which is ... odd. I'm talking down camera, then reacting to images of people. How do we manage that? How do we make it seem like I've got genuine eye contact with them? How do we make sure that the show feels intimate? How do we frame each shot so the audience feels like they're in a theatre show and not on a Zoom call? It strikes me that we've not substituted one set of problems for another but, rather, combined all the problems of making live theatre with those of filming a live TV show.

But it will be worth it, I realise, as things all start to come together because as well as having all the problems of both, we have all the benefits, too: live audience interaction and the ability to have every single audience member seeing the same image at the same time. They are controlling what they see in a way we can't when they are in the space, whilst also genuinely maintaining that air of danger and spontaneity that only live, often improvised, theatre can bring.

If you don't want to perform during the show, you simply watch and interact if and when you wish. And if you don't wish to interact whatsoever, you can simply watch the livestream. (What's more, if you don't like the show, it's never been easier to leave in the middle of the performance.)

But I think you will like this show, firstly because it's genuine and also because it marks a very real attempt to allow audience members the platform to come together and discuss what they've been through at a time when things are, dare I say, looking slightly more positive for the future. You can't move on, I think, without first looking back and taking stock. This show gives us all the chance to do that. To sing, dance, laugh and cry together, but apart.

Open Mic is livestreaming 1-3 April from the Soho Theatre

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