Uncover the dark secrets of a small community
An immersive theatre experience where a group of strangers became citizens of a fictional town teetering on the edge of chaos. A live experiment in community, conflict, and the secrets we carry.
Autumn 2009; May 2011; May 2012
About the project
A story of secrets, solidarity, and strangers becoming citizens
In A Small Town Anywhere, a roomful of strangers took on hats, badges, and new identities to become citizens of a small town during the most momentous week in its history. Simmering tensions between the town’s two tribes – the Wrens and the Larks – were pushed to boiling point by anonymous poison-pen letters, all signed by the same shadowy figure: The Raven. Could solidarity survive in a town on the brink of collapse?
Originally inspired by Clouzot’s Le Corbeau, this interactive theatre piece invited around 30 audience members to become fully immersed in a narrative shaped by tribalism, ambition, and suspicion. The story was alive to the choices made by its citizens – individually and collectively – with each performance playing out differently based on the paths they chose.
Before the event, participants engaged with the town’s mysterious historian, online or in person, to cast themselves into their roles – including choosing a secret they hoped would remain buried. Whether it did… depended on how the week unfolded.
A Small Town Anywhere ran as a co-production between Coney and Battersea Arts Centre, bringing together playful storytelling and radical audience involvement in a truly one-of-a-kind theatrical experiment.
Credits