Work
GHOST LIGHT
Maker Candle House · Work date 2019-12 · Medium telephone + other · Role work
Description
One phone call bookended by text messages. Cheryl of the neighborhood watch recruits you to look into the Papaki Theater after a run of The Sound of Music — neighbors have been reporting strange sounds and smells. You then speak with Jean, a lighting tech, who moves through the dark theater while you talk, and the call gradually exposes her obsession with the actress Dessa and what was done in pursuit of her. Fifty minutes advertised; reviewers report about an hour. Performed by Paige Wasserman and Cassidy Sledge.
Source. https://becomeimmersed.com/ghost-light-review/
THE SIXTH UNDER THE BED SHOW. The other five are cataloged here; this one was missed, and it is not listed on candlehouse.org/work at all, which is presumably why. The call is the performance; the texts frame it.
Anatomy
Thirteen criteria after Lauren R. Beck. Each carries a source grade: M maker-confirmed, P published, F first-hand, I inferred by the compiler, ? not yet established. Definitions are on the anatomy page.
- Participants listen through headphonesnoP
A phone call, with text messages before and after.
- Participants move through space as part of the worknoI
The participant takes the call where they are.
- Audio technology is necessaryyesP
One live call is the performance.
- Site-, situation- or language-specificnoI
Placeless; the theater in the fiction is invented.
- Engages with the history of a sitenoI
No documented past of a real place.
- Created for an urban environmentnoI
No urban dependence.
- Created as an artwork other than theaternoP
A theater company, presenting an encounter.
- Intended to be understood as theateryesP
Candle House frames its work as theater.
- Accidental real-world sights and sounds are importantunknown?
Not addressed.
Did you experience this? Tell us - Spectator must participateyesP
Conversational throughout; the reviewer reports being asked for deeply personal beliefs.
- Has live performers other than the participantsyesP
Two live performers.
- Involves game playnoI
No rules, objective or resolution state.
- Uses props other than the listening devicenoP
Sound effects and performance only; nothing is handled.
1 of thirteen are still unknown for this work. If you experienced it, you can settle them in a minute.