Avatar Me is a one-on-one show from Danish company Fix&Foxy, whose past productions have included immersive interpretation of Twin Peaks and a version of A Doll’s House performed in the audience’s own home. In their current piece for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, supported by The Danish Arts Foundation called #Danish Digital at Zoo Venue’s ZOOTV, Avatar Me uses Zoom to transplant the viewer into somebody else’s life thousands of miles away to experience what their life is like for 45 minutes through their eyes.
The show begins with a quick catch up with a host who explains about the show and some tech stuff to make sure your microphone and video is working. I had a very helpful host in Camilla who showed me some tips on pinning the video and making the sound louder to feel the full experience that was coming my way!
There are five possibilities you could be assigned: Brazil, Moldova, India and South Africa and I was assigned to Khor Yong Kuan in Malaysia. The 45 minutes sped by as I walked around the house meeting the family and learning about growing up in Malaysia. We wrote a note to my friend in London about “Hope” and played the piano, drank water and jumped over a wall to open the gate!
You can ask questions and direct the show how you want it to be so it was my choice if I took a left and opened the door or chose a certain pair of shoes to wear! It is a really interactive experience and highly unique to really delve into being someone else in another country. Even though it is using Zoom you really feel immersed and engrossed into this experience.
Every performance is a new awakening to your imagination as it is an individual one-off event just for your eyes and I really enjoyed how we went from the house to a car I chose to drive to look around the area and discussed about life and dreams. We then stopped by the roadside to get some durian kampung and the way Khor Yong Kuan described it I felt like I was really tasting it!
The performance is available until August 26th 2021 and I highly recommend this wonderful opportunity to be spirited away to somebody else’s body and experience a new way of life.
To find out more info and to book see online.
