RevoLOOtion: Reactions

“The sceptical part of me thinks that the conditions presented were too ideal as everyone had goals in a similar direction. However, what left an impression was Li Xie encouraging the representative from the villagers group to think of more alternatives. After all, a change—however small—is better than the status quo.

The challenge is to scale this up and apply this to our public discourse.” - Isaac Tan

“Ultimately, RevoLOOtion goes to show that ITI is willing to take creativity one step further, leaping into risky performances that involve the audience with no guaranteed outcome. This serves as a refreshing reminder of the impact theatre can have and the importance of retaining our local art spaces, the villagers’ fight drawing a striking parallel to our powerlessness in the face of their slow but sure disappearance.” - Yaiza Canopoli, Arts Republic

“Physically distanced forum theatre... sounds like a logistical nightmare, but kudos to the entire RevoLOOtion team for pulling this off given the current social distancing measures. That said - unlike The Lesson and The Class Room, where we only had one chance to intervene, and we could actually see the tangible consequences of our intervention - RevoLOOtion was more of a sandbox where you could repeatedly try different interventions, just like in offline games where you can 'load saved game' in case you don't get the outcome that you want. So I'm left wondering - if there isn't a tangible outcome that audience members can associate their participation with (i.e. because of my actions, this irrevocably happened to the villagers), how do we then make this sandbox style of participatory theatre meaningful vis-à-vis the practice of critical citizenship?” - unravelling (Ke Weiliang)

“What RevoLOOtion leaves us with then, is a reminder that what we can change is the little things, the moments of empathy we create when we interact person to person, as opposed to constantly thinking of it as a battle between the disenfranchised commoners and the faceless bureaucrats. It is when we start thinking about making a difference in our own small way, by choosing kindness, by choosing empathy, and by choosing collaboration to do what we can within our power, that true revolution can finally happen, rather than a foolhardy fight one cannot win. Ultimately, RevoLOOtion offers a different dimension from ITI’s usual physical theatre/experimental pieces, and perhaps, signals a need for students to create more socially relevant, community-driven work in future.” - Bakchormeeboy

“Strong performance, and smooth facilitation. Powerful and inciting ending. Good food for thought to bring home about how value systems can lead to different solutions.”

“Great and unique experiences. Such interactive performance workshops should be encouraged more often.”

“A smart show that is entertaining and thought-provoking. A brilliant bunch of graduating ITI students too. Promising work!”

“Ushers/group leaders were very polite and helpful. Safety measures are also done very well. Actors are great at responding to the audience.”

"Safe distancing measures were well thought out."  

 RevoLOOtion is the first graduation production of ITI's 2021 graduating cohort.

Photo credit: Bernie Ng