Seeing Unseen

30% of the internet is taken up by cat videos. There are fewer plane crashes but it feels like there are way more. Frozen Berries can give you Hepatitis A. The Old 505 Theatre Co. discovered these facts when refreshing their browsers for the latest news, updates, statistics, content, data …

Seeing Unseen is a hard hitting representation of society’s obsession to be constantly updated with the latest news. However irrelevant it may be, gallons of data and faster technology convince you that it is necessary to be informed of these facts. But are we losing our freedom by being so engulfed by these distractions? 

The play follows a seemingly ordinary couple as they live out a few days of their seemingly ordinary lives. Michael Pigott was perfectly childish and Kerri Glasscock perfectly anxious, both making the world seem like an enormous, terrifying place. The ever present Michael Cullen cleverly crafted his character to comedic and eerie effect. Representing the intrusiveness of this constant stream of data, he observed ever nuance of the couple’s days in close proximity. 

The simple set consisting of a mattress, a table and chairs, and a projector served their practical purpose as the couple’s apartment; a gloomy place that was rarely escaped for fear of the outside world. The tiny Old 505 Theatre space heightened this sense that the world was encroaching in on you. The projector was used to great creative effect, creating the illusion of additional set pieces, such as a shower, without cluttering the small space. 

As the audience were provoked to question the importance of their obsession with updates, the ideas of “intimacy, privacy, surveillance, security and control” were also grappling for our attention. At times it seemed like too many ideas were presented simultaneously that it was impossible to focus on a single one. Yet perhaps this was The Old 505 Theatre Co’s intention; is it really possible to concentrate on any task without distraction in today’s society? 

These were the questions Seeing Unseen left the audience wondering as they squeezed out of the theatre. And this is exactly what good theatre should do; not tell you what to think, but provoke you to think. 

Emma Squires