Gob Squad: Is Anybody Home?

photo: David Baltzer

“This is the front door to where I live, isn’t it? And this is my key? Is anybody home? OK, I’m going in… Is this my own room here? And this big double bed—it’s mine, right? All just for me! I’m so exhausted. I’m going to lie down now. But first, tell me: What gets me out of bed in the morning? Am I happy here?”

Gob Squad has created an interactive live film that pushes empathy and the idea of sharing the experiences of others to the extreme. The performers swap places with a local guest, who is invited to watch a film, set in their own private apartment. As the film unfolds live in the theatre before their eyes, boundaries of privacy and property are constantly negotiated. Strangers’ beds are slept in, and bodies are taken over. Where do you begin, and where do I end? Is this a nightmare or a dream come true?

Meanwhile, on the streets, another body embarks on a mysterious, fairytale-like quest. What is home beyond four walls? Where do we find the opening in the membrane of the private to create connections rather than draw divisions? Where can we come together? In the theatre? In a stranger’s house? In my body? Our minds? On the streets? Is anybody home?