The Walks vs Through the Cracks

‘The Walks’ is a collection of short audio experiences for special places in your city, as well as an invitation to rediscover and interact with your surroundings. Each audio walk takes just 20 minutes. Set out anytime and decide for yourself how many walks you’d like to take, and in what order. The stories and soundscapes in these short audio adventures resonate all over the world, and in that way, The Walks connects people around the globe in a local experience, bringing them together in the fundamental human act of walking. The pandemic changed the way we look at walking in public space. This ancient and mundane ritual became a central element of the new normal. People meet, walk, stroll through neighbourhoods, play in landscapes, and see their surroundings in new ways with every step. In ‘The Walks’, walking becomes a theatrical framework. An audio-guided walk in the park, a staged visit to the supermarket, or rhythmic aquatic interactions. In each city, voices, sounds, and music transform familiar places into scenes and landscapes into stages through storytelling, dialogues, choreographic explorations and musical and rhythmic variations of the humble walk. Each walk has a short title that indicates where or how it will be performed: “Cemetery”, “Water”, or “Roundabout” The Walks can be activated using a code.

Through the Cracks is an Augmented Reality (AR) theatre app co-produced by Office of Everyone and English Touring Theatre. The project shares undervalued stories that have fallen through the cracks, both figuratively and literally. 'In time' by Sonali Bhattacharyya is the first story featured. The piece comprises two four minute scenes that can be experienced together or with a break. You should physically move your device and your body around the cracks in the floor as if they are part of your physical surroundings.