I liked Derek’s review of a theatre production he saw…

When we got the airport there were a few strange faces hanging around: an old man who seemed to be wearing nothing apart from a hat and a raincoat; and a young guy wearing a high-vis yellow vest and angel’s wings. We lined up at a check-in desk and were given our boarding cards. I looked to my left and I saw what you see in the picture above.

That was the start of Roam which is a “site-specific theatre production” by Grid Iron. Its inspired by lots of writing about travel, why people travel, who travels, how are different people treated when they travel, etc. The play started in the check-in area and they had the use the screens above the desk with RoamAir. When characters handed over their passports, on these screens there was a little montage of stills when the check-in staff looked at the picture - kid in a Celtic strip, wedding photos, etc. Some people dodgier than others. The great thing about it was you didn’t know who were actors in the background. People would wander about as a scene was going on and then suddenly they’d be in the next scene. It left me looking about at people and thinking “he must be an actor”. They did something I’ve always wanted to do, but never done: take my suitcase with the telescopic handle and push it down like its a detonator and make a loud explosion. I’ve never worked myself up to doing that in an airport, but they could.

This part was amusing; if they’d done this in a US airport, the guy would probably have been shot:

One of the best bits was this Arab guy who was trying to check-in and had a dodgy suitcase. This obviously built up to the point where he was screaming and shouting and telling us he was called Osama. He shouted “do you want to see what’s in my suitcase?”

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