Blink (2019)

Dates

12 – 20 July 2019

Location

EGO Arts Venue, Jesson House, Cook St, Coventry

Synopsis

It’s 2099. The Federation controls you. Your life is determined in the blink of an eye. The odds are stacked against you and the rules aren’t fair. How would you play the game?

Read Kyle McCall Wilson’s blog posts about the making of “Blink”

This blurb was written in 2019 and published in the programme for the show:

Blink is set in the future and we’re not going to lie, it’s bleak! and here’s why…

THE POLITICAL, THE PERSONAL, THE PARALLELS.

Contextualising our show began by exploring the political affairs we find ourselves exposed to today and imagining those situations pushed to their potential extremes. It was pretty easy to get caught up with our feelings about the likes of Trump and Farage and the rise in intensity of the politics of fear, hate, suspicion and division. We asked questions like ‘What could happen if people continue to vote for personality not policies and make decisions on opinions rather than fact?’ ‘What happens if the politics of isolationism continues and spreads throughout the world?’ ‘What would happen without the National Health Service, Social welfare and freedom of speech?’ ‘What happens when technology takes over?’ and ‘When wealth rules supreme?’ (….doesn’t that one exist already??)

The process for making this show was both humbling and empowering. Our initial devising sessions were titled ‘What is it like to be me?’ Every member shared their life experiences with each other; it was a true eye-opener and a real education. We delved into some very personal stories and anecdotes with brutal honesty and intense precision, we discovered uncomfortable truths and disturbing facts. We felt shock, sadness and anger, there was amusement too; the awkward questions, the faux-pas, the jokes.

The current war on empathy, accusations of political correctness and virtue signalling, are attempts to stop two forces coming together – empathy and activism. Making theatre is our activism; put empathy and activism together and you get solidarity, the key driver to social change…. and social change is important to each and every one of this cast; immigration complications, inadequate health care, lack of social mobility, unfair ATOS assessments, homelessness, poverty, social isolation, racism and discrimination are lived experiences for our cast members. 

So we bring the personal, the political and the parallels together to make this show for you. Blink is the title of a 2099 game show. We resisted the game show format for a long time, but eventually gave into the idea after deciding that much of our life experiences did indeed feel like playing a game, like a contestant or being played like a pawn. We’ve drawn plenty of parallels between 2019 and 2099; The top 1%, the power of money, pitting the most vulnerable people in our communities against each other, a sense of hopelessness, the speech of ignorance and hate. The characters use language that has been taken directly from the cast’s experience – none of it hasn’t been said before. WARNING: you could (& should) find it offensive.

You’ve paid for your ticket so no turning back now…

it’s certainly not like the laugh-a-minute Big EGO plays that you’re used to, but Blink packs an altogether different punch, just as entertaining, and definitely thought provoking.

ENJOY! (or maybe not)

Cast

We would like to say thank you to the following people for their help on this Production:

Dianne Nicholson – Front of House/Programmes
Amy Worrall – Lighting
Tim Egan – Sound Designer
Jane Bush – Bold Productions Leader
Mike Page – Bold Productions Assistant
Ellie O’Brien – Prosthetics
Phil Palmer – Set Building
Kyle McCall Wilson – Blog Writer
Nicola Cashin – EGO’s Official Photographer
Our Board of Trustees
Our EGO Ambassadors
and Bold Productions.