When listening to this piece the group thought it had a tense element of surveillance, as though someone or something was being watched without their knowledge. As they continued to explore this theme, they drew connections to how it can feel at times to be a musician performing on stage – everyone can see you at all times, whether you like it or not. But what if they couldn’t?
The group began playing with the theme of “predator and prey,” casting the audience as predators, while they embodied the role of prey. How might audiences react to explicitly having to search for the musicians? What would it feel like to hear the music, but not be sure where it’s coming from?
As they built this idea out with members of the Innovation Studio team, they decided to position themselves behind a sheet, completely obscuring them from the audience. To play up the feelings of surveillance or being hunted, cameras were placed around them, with live feeds projected choppily onto the audience’s side of the sheet.