#INSTALOVE Brings the Quest for Love to The Fringe

American performer, writer, and theatre maker, Catherine Duquette is bringing her trailblazing interactive performance #Instalove to The Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

#Instalove is a joyful, electrifying, and at times, stormy celebration of all the reasons we seek love - from the playful to the pathetic, the pragmatic to the passionate - and how identity is created through relationships. It transposes the quest for love into a live game-like encounter; the audience votes to decide the outcome, so each performance is different.

Performer/writer and Fringe first-timer, Catherine Duquette, presents five different characters. Meet Clare (romantic), Kit (cynical), Cat (sensual), Kate (pragmatic), and Kris (dominant). They compete against each other for the audience's affections - which will they want to date?

In each series of dates, the audience eliminates their least favourite character. Gradually, Catherine's characters are revealed to all be personas of the same woman. They share the same stories and previous relationships but emphasise different aspects of their lives and perceive their memories differently, taking distinct lessons from them. As the show progresses, the participatory encounters become ever more intimate, heading to the audience's ultimate choice.

How will the audience's personality shape Catherine's identity? Which of the characters will she become with them? Who will they become with her?

'#Instalove is a grand social experiment under the guise of theatre!' said Catherine 'It's truly unique as it uses game design as a dramaturgical approach to get audiences up on stage and to make meaningful choices that not only impact the show but also have consequences beyond the performance itself. It's intended to be It's scandalously fun, honest, intimate, and full of surprises.'

#Instalove applies game design as a dramatic tool. This concept allows for fun yet meaningful interactions in which the audience not only decide what happens on stage but also involves them with the emotional consequences of their choices. #Instalove encourages the audience to face their own personas in the game of love, all the while reconciling what it means to choose and how that shapes who we become.

Catherine (who is also a writer and narrative designer for mobile games) will create a smartphone app for audiences to download prior to seeing the show, which will help them interact with, and drive the decision making process.

American performer, writer, and theatre maker, Catherine Duquette recently relocated to London after living in Berlin for several years. She specialises in audience-performer relations and improvisation within scripted drama. She creates intimate participatory works that draw on autobiographical materials to share contemporary experiences with active audiences. Curious about expanding notions of performance, Catherine fuses theatre, interactive poetry, scripts, and choice-based narrative for video games. With #Instalove she is exploring game design as a dramaturgical approach to theatre in order to allow audiences more emotional and personal investment in what happens on stage.

www.catherineduquette.com

#Instalove runs from 4-26 August (except 6, 13 and 20) at theSpace on North Bridge, Argyll Theatre Edinburgh EH1 1SD

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/heather

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