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The gerund noun of the title of Bricolage’s new immersive encounter – The Clearing – is deliberately ambiguous. It’s both the (noun) space you enter and explore and the (gerund verb) activity you engage in as part of the performance.
The Clearing – photo Handerson Gomes, courtesy Bricolage Production Company
Taking place in the same environment the team created for their sensory-friendly children’s show The Forest of Everywhere, the adult-oriented The Clearing takes advantage of the soothing, meditative quality of the space to provide an opportunity for introspection and mental attic-airing. Bricolage has done some light repurposing of the space, turning it into a quietly otherwordly environment that feels strange and mood-altering: you’re not, so to speak, in Kansas anymore. But you are in a place where, through small encounters with both the magical world and the actors who inhabit it, you may find yourself inching closer towards mental clarity.
What’s on offer here is a small journey into your own relationship to fear, worry, anxiety, truth, lies, and betrayal – which means that (as with each of the immersive works Bricolage has created to date) your experience will be unique, personal, idiosyncratic, and quite possibly – as was my case – uncannily refreshing.
The Pittsburgh Tatler 