Stockholm: relationships between performers and audience

Performer-Audience Connection

Stockholm creates a direct relationship between the performers and audience through breaking the fourth wall. This invites the audience to engage actively with the play.
Characters sometimes speak directly to the audience, revealing inner thoughts and emotions. This enhances emotional bonding and promotes understanding of the characters.
The performers often use eye contact and direct address, embracing the audience’s participation, which further intensifies the emotional impact on the audience.

The performers create a level of sympathy for the characters, despite their destructive relationship, making the play emotionally volatile.
The balance between sympathy and discomfort challenges the audience’s reactions and provides complex emotional responses.
The characters’ self-justification and attempts at ** rationalising their toxicity** presents the audience with a challenging perspective on abusive relationships, providing an insight into the complexity of Stockholm Syndrome.

The use of physical theatre is critical in portraying the depth of characters’ complex emotions and their abusive relationship. This makes the audience uncomfortable, but engaged.
Precise and choreographed movements help the audience to understand the power dynamics in Kali and Todd’s relationship.
The explicit and seductive dance sequences encourage the audience to question what they perceive, further immersing them in this tumultuous world.

The intimate setting in Stockholm results in a sense of voyeurism, making the audience deeply involved but also uncomfortable.
The use of space, both vertically and horizontally, creates a dynamic and immersive theatrical experience. This provokes a wide range of responses from the audience.
The consistent and close movement between the actors and the audience draws them into the spiralling emotional journey of the characters.

Stockholm aims to evoke conflicting emotions from the audience, forcing them to question accepted ideas about love and control.
The play’s explicit nature challenges the audience’s comfort levels, deeply engaging them into the narrative.
The confusion between romantic and haunting elements of the play results in a memorable audience experience.