‘Are You the One?’ brings unique participatory theatre to Arts Commons

You are sitting in the chair, waiting for your time to come, it could be anyone, the game has just begun.

Are you the one?

A theatrical experience like no other premiered in Calgary this week at the Motel Theatre at Arts Commons.

It’s reality television slash escape room, slash game, and also full of original pop music.

Admittedly, it ‘s hard to describe how fun, spontaneous, wild, and beautiful the experience is without spoilers.

Complete strangers could become best friends, or rivals.

‘Are You the One?’ is participatory theatre, but not in an arduous way. The audience is immediately broken into teams or zones and compete to avoid elimination, eventually the teams themselves are broken up and it becomes individuals competing.

The creators of the piece is XLQ, an award winning drag duo that has been performing for over a decade together. The two also play the part of show hosts, marching around with microphones guiding the flow of the game and at some points interviewing audience members on their strategy.

One half of XLQ, Maddie, said that the audience is really the star of the show. It’s all about seeing who will rise above the masses and fight to become and embrace becoming an icon.

If the idea of audience participation is not exactly your jam, Starlight said they still need you at the show, as every audience member becomes a part of the story. 

“You’ll never have to do anything you don’t want to do or be pressured into anything,” they said.

The run is limited for the world premiere week, with only a handful of performance dates left.

The run time of the show is about one to one-and-a-half hours, depending on how it goes.

‘Are You the One?’ runs at the Motel Theatre through to Saturday night.

It’s unlike anything else you will experience on a Calgary stage this season.

Tickets can be found here.