You're just the same as everyone else, & us
This week I was invited to catch a preview performance of new promenade piece You're Just the Same as Everyone Else, & Us. A debut from all-female Liverpool-based theatre company Petrichor, the work took us around the city's business district and to the Pier Head, with the aim of 'showing the stories that have slipped through the cracks'. The show can be seen by the public next week, from October 17 to 21. Those who sign up will meet in the Corn Market pub (I actually don't think I'd been in there since 2004), before being taken on a tour by a guide, Marie, who will introduce her friends May and Martha along the way. The tour is as silly as it is poignant, with as much improvised nonsense as there is insight into the city. Petrichor - the name is of Greek origin meaning the smell of rain before the drops begin to fall - say that their mission statement is to "smash performance genres together to create Frankenstein's monsters that bite". And with You're Just the Same as Everyone Else, & Us, they say they want to take a look at the city in a critical light and celebrate the collective experience of walking through a place in which we all know, although we don't know each other. So, there's a bit of interactivity and friendliness required of their audiences. I've also since seen a few familiar faces chatting about Liverpool life in a few film clips that will apparently appear in the finished product next week. "Art is meant to reflect its environment, socially, culturally, and personally, and Petrichor is determined to make the work we think is missing within the UK theatre scene," they say, which includes mixing up everything from performance art, story telling and stand up to flashmobs. So be prepared to get involved... (and fingers crossed the weather stays nice). If it sounds like your kind of thing, grab your tickets now (£7.50/ £5 concs) from Eventbrite. Behind the show are up-and-coming dramaturge Rachael A White and actress Nuala Maguire (who met due to their involvement in Grin Theatre's Queertet in 2012), Dora Colquhoun and Sarah Gould.
