“For me, immersive work is able to generate a feeling that sits with you once you have left the space, that is a special moment. I would love for my work to leave people thinking and questioning.” The care that Amber Jarman-Crainey has put into giving people those special moment, in the creation of BOUND, a new free roaming movement-based immersive show exploring our different reactions to grief, played across the five floors of the OXO Bargehouse in London, is evident. We welcome Amber into the voidspace to tell us more about this unique experience.
voidspace:
Amber, welcome to the voidspace. Thank you so much for coming to talk to me about BOUND today. First of all, just as an introduction to our readers, if you could just tell me who you are, your background and what you’re doing in this particular space.
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
Definitely. As you said, my name is Amber Jarman-Crainey, I’m the Creative Director of a new immersive theatre show BOUND. BOUND is a fully sensory experience that focuses, and has developed, from nine stories of grief and loss. The work is premiering at the end of August, and will run till the 7th September, in Bargehouse on London’s South Bank. I initially trained as a dancer at The University of Roehampton, I always always had a passion for movement and acting, but throughout my training, I became a little bit obsessed with anything immersive. It just grabs you in! I became a massive fan of anything immersive and would go to everything I could afford, multiple times, ha.
voidspace:
That sounds familiar.
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
Yes. Literally anything immersive, I’d be there. I started to find ways to weave it into my training, for my university dissertation, I created an immersive audio performance. People would wear headsets and my voice would guide them through an outdoor journey. I was really interested in how the senses can trigger memory recall. Memory really interests me, people thought the dissertation was a little bit rogue because I was doing a dance degree, I remember a lot of people questioning my idea and would say: do you not think you should be just focusing on dance? But I found it really interesting.
To me, movement can be from just blinking your eyes. It doesn’t have to be a full set of choreography. So, I delved into this world of immersive, and always knew that I wanted to create something on a large scale. But I have to be passionate about the concept. It has to be something that connects to me on a real-life level. I never knew what that could be or would be. It was only when I experienced a big loss in my life, that’s what really gave me that final drive to say: this is where this sadness and lack of understanding needs to go. That’s when I started to think about BOUND.
voidspace:
What was the first immersive thing that got you bitten by the bug?
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
When I was at university, I would go to all of Jasmin Vardimon workshops.
Her company is based in Ashford, Kent and that’s where I spent a big chunk of my childhood, so in the summer holidays I would continue my training. She created a piece called Maze, which was at the Winter Gardens in Margate. I don’t think many people got to see it. It was a little bit more intimate, I think around 30 people could enter, I hadn’t really been to anything immersive before so wasn’t sure what to expect and also what was expected of me. I went, and then I went again and from that moment onwards, I was like, okay, so if I’m not a performer and I’m not just sat as an observer, this immersive world gives me the mixture of everything, and that’s what I like. You can create, almost, your own show within a show, and I’ve always been interested in producing, so I thought: wow! This is everything I want.
voidspace:
Jasmin’s so interesting because she’s done such a wide range of work. I saw her ALiCE in Worthing a few weeks ago, which is just so much fun. So many people who are performers who have ended up doing loads of immersive seem to have started around Jasmin’s orbit. It’s really interesting how influential she is, I think.
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
It is. Also, it was amazing to see her take on an immersive work, as I had previously only seen stage setups before, but it really does seem to be a standout moment of hers, and it has been for me. It’s something that I will always refer back to. Even when I go and see anything else immersive. I think with theatre and anything like that, you do sometimes go in with this critical mindset. You always refer back to things that you’ve seen before. I always compare it to that in a way, because for me, it’s the highlight of everything I’ve seen. It always sticks with me.
voidspace:
It’s interesting, how, I think, the first thing that really catches your attention, we tend to find the thing that we’re going to use as a yardstick and the thing that
is going to inform our view of what immersive, what interactive can be. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I think everyone is entitled to find their influences.
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
I think we all gravitate to something and I tend to remember immersive work that blends together movement within the work! I think it’s the dancer in me! I also think that for me, immersive work is able to generate a feeling that sits with you once you have left the space, that is a special moment. I would love for my work to leave people thinking and questioning.
voidspace:
I mean, all good theatre or dance, or art in general, should make people feel something. But I think it’s really interesting how immersive and interactive stuff can have such a direct impact on you. Emotionally and physically.
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
That’s the thing. I think it’s the interactive and sensory elements that have the ability to connect to us in a way that some other settings struggle to achieve, this is my personal opinion, ha. When you go to a classic theatre setting, you’re stationary, you’re directed on what to look at because everything’s in front of you and there’s this regimen: this is what we are presenting you, which is beautiful but I love the unexpected moments not having these guides, when you enter an immersive space, you have things going on all around you creating multiple layers of experience. And it’s not just a visual thing. For me, that’s important, being able to be tactile with things and brush past people. I love anything like that.
voidspace:
It’s those little moments that make the experience feel personal. Moving back to BOUND: Could you give me a bit of an overview of what BOUND is about?
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
BOUND is a world away from the classic theatre experience. I have tried to avoid the feelings of ‘them and us’. No rows of seats to observe from, but a space where the audience has the power to lead their own journey and view what they feel interested in or connected to. Bargehouse facilitates this perfectly with the performance spread over five floors of the building. Bargehouse is just behind the OXO Tower. The space is amazing, and I didn’t know it was there. Have you been there?
voidspace:
Yes, I went to a VR exhibition in there, and I looked at it as a potential venue for my festival. It’s incredible.
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
It’s the gift that keeps on giving. You could just wander around for hours, the space is a piece of artwork in itself. The walls are crumbling and each room feels so unique. It almost has a maze-like feel because it has so many interconnecting rooms and staircases! During BOUND the audience will have free roam of the space and have the chance to interact with nine different storylines of grief and loss. The rooms will be filled with a range of sets, I have been working closely with some amazing creatives, including a florist, drapist and willow artist, and layered on top of that, an amazing soundscape. I’m working with different artists that may have not worked within a theatre setting before, which is really lovely. We’re really working on how to engage with all senses, so that everyone feels fully with what’s going on. I think it’s also a nice space to allow people to come in and actually sit with their feelings.
Sometimes, when confronted with these things, people try to cover themselves. But this is a space where we’re all here, we know the concept. So, you feel however you want to feel in this moment. So, going back to a little outline of BOUND. You’re able to explore these nine story lines as you wander through the amazing Bargehouse. It hopefully will be a really memorable experience for people.
voidspace:
That sounds wonderful. In terms of how you manage the interaction side of things: If you’ve got a scale or a spectrum where you’ve got your Punchdrunk-style show, where the audience is quite passive, but they have the freedom to go where they want to go. And then on the other end of the scale, maybe you’ve got your game theatre stuff where the audience, at least notionally, have a defined game-like role. Am I right in thinking you’re more at the Punchdrunk end of the spectrum?
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
Yes. It really is. The participants will have the freedom to roam around. If something takes their fancy, or they’re interested in something, they have the opportunity to follow, observe, reflect, or come away from it. I think I’m really passing some of those reins over to the participants and allowing them to find their own journey through the piece.
voidspace:
Sounds amazing. Is it going to be very movement-based?
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
It really is a mixture of art forms, but the nine storylines woven within the work do focus on human behaviour and physical reactions to grief. Aside from my personal interest in movement, I became very aware of my own physical reactions to grief when I lost my older brother in 2020. I ended up losing my hair. I would have severe panic attacks. I stopped eating. It caused me a lot of self-isolation because of the fear of having these panic attacks. I stopped going on the tube because I thought I might have a panic attack. So, all these physical reactions started to make me wonder, why am I grieving like this when the rest of my family aren’t showing these physical reactions? Yes, they’re sad. Yes, I can see they’re struggling, but it was more of an internal emotional response, where mine were very visible. You could literally look at me. And even now, I still struggle. I have rosacea across my cheeks, and that’s all very much stress related.
I was thinking, why have I got these physical reactions? I can really see them, and my family didn’t have the same. Obviously, they were going through masses, but they just were different. And then I started to think about how we can show these different ways of grieving, and how everyone is grieving so differently, and explore them through multiple art forms. That’s why I came up with nine story lines of grief, that show completely different ideas and reactions and responses. Some participants might go in and automatically relate to one of those storylines. There could be one element of it, and they want to explore that. Or they might see it and think: you know what? That’s a bit close. I’m going to go the other way. I think because of the concept being grief, I need to give enough control to the participants to say: today I’m feeling I want to delve into that area, or actually: no, I need to protect myself a little bit more. I’m not ready, and I’m going to go on a different journey.
voidspace:
That makes a lot of sense. I want to ask about what your devising process was like or has been like so far. Has that been a collaborative process with your cast?
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
Yes, it very much has been, and I do feel extremely, extremely lucky to have had the most respectful and supportive and open cast throughout, since the R&D and moving into creation and rehearsal. It’s been a really fulfilling, heartwarming experience. It was definitely, from the off, always key to me that there needs to be a level of support and protection around these stories that are being told from the cast. We always had the option: we can bear all, or we can bear a little, and that is enough. Sometimes you don’t want to bear anything. That’s also fine. But that’s still
something that we can explore. It’s very much been a collaborative way of working, which I love anyway. I like for it to feel like it’s all of ours. And I think also it gives that element of truth. And I think then the audience or participants will have more of a connection with it.
We had our R&D last April, I worked with a group of physical theatre performers, voice and grief specialists. I was nervous going into the space as I knew I held not just a physical responsibility but emotional too. Now that we are in the creation phases we’ve been working [this interview took place several months before opening], in one-to-one settings, so it’ll be me and one of the cast. Due to the nature and concept of the work I felt this was the best way of working to begin with. It has allowed a chance for a deeper understanding of how we can work together and really delve into the storyline of each performer.
voidspace:
I agree. Because I can imagine, obviously, you’re drawing deeply on your own very challenging experiences for this. And you’re also asking cast members to some extent, draw on their own experiences. I imagine you’ve had to, well, either put in place or discover as you go along, ways of coping with that and ways of making sure that everyone remains emotionally safe throughout that process.
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
This was always a highlighted area for me, before anyone I want to make sure the cast feel comfortable and supported, before the R&D I was trying to find a specialist within the grief community who could come and facilitate a session or support the process, we ended up working with a death doula, Sabio Janiak, who’s amazing. From day one, he came in and taught us some Havening exercises to open and close the space.
voidspace:
I haven’t heard of a death doula before. Can you talk us through what that is?
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
I hadn’t originally really heard of this until I was thinking about if I need to put something in place to support the performers and myself.
Then I was introduced to Sabio. You have doulas to support mothers and families when a new life is being born. Then also you have doulas who also help with this towards the end of life.
Sabio works very much with Havening exercises. At the beginning of our R&D, one of the first things that we did was welcome Sabio and he ran us through how he works. This gave us a really good foundation and let us understand a little bit about how we can take care of ourselves and others through this journey. As performers, I think everyone just goes for it because that’s what is expected of them. I think sometimes they forget about their own emotions and just think: I need to just go hard and pull out all the emotions.
We were always checking in and reminding ourselves that this doesn’t have to be a full-on cry on cue situation. This is much more about sitting with your feelings. If you feel okay to go in this direction, we can. But then also we can pull back. Then we also learned Havening techniques to almost round off the session so that when the performers and myself, and even Sabio, were leaving the space, we felt able to disconnect slightly. We’re never going to be fully able to disconnect from what’s happened in the day because it’s like now that’s a blueprint on you. But it allows this slight disconnection and more of the understanding of the fact that that experience was then, and now I can move on. And I can always come back to the Havening exercises.
voidspace:
What is Havening? You have to excuse my ignorance.
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
It’s a set of exercises for self-soothing. Obviously a lot of the performers in the show are trained in dance, so they react quite well to this physical technique. We would do a lot of regulated breathing, self-soothing and gentle rocking. It’s almost like an imitation of soothing a baby. When you think about how you soothe a baby, they’re almost developed techniques of that. I would definitely recommend having a look on Sabio’s website! He explains it a lot better than me.
voidspace:
Why is the piece called BOUND?
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
Originally, I was plodding along, developing the ideas of the show, with it unnamed. Then I just was thinking about how this show could potentially affect a lot of people. People ask: who’s your target audience for a show? Who do you want to come to the show? Someone who’s lost someone, who’s dealing with grief, or who maybe wants to understand grief a little bit more. And I started to think that it’s undoubtedly something that we’re all going to go through in some way, at some point in our lives. And that doesn’t have to be the death of someone. It could be losing a job. It could be a breakup. A diagnosis. I started thinking: this one thing, this really impactful emotion, binds us all together. Then I came up with this idea of bound. I feel like we’re all bound by grief.
voidspace:
I think that makes so much sense. It’s got that sense of physical grounding as well.
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
I love hearing all the reasons why people think I might have called it that. I think one of the things about this show is that I wanted it to be this gift for everyone, including myself. The name can be whatever you want it to be. It can mean whatever you want it to mean, because I think ultimately, when you go as a participant and you explore the space and you explore the storylines, it’s your own personal experience. Yes, me and the cast may have a certain intention. But that doesn’t have to be what it means. You can interpret it in any way you want. Maybe if you came twice, you’d interpret it in different ways because of how you’re feeling. I think that’s really lovely: Coming into this setting of having the freedom to respond like that. That’s what I love because then I think it builds conversation. Anyone who’s creative, it gets the brain sparked up.
voidspace:
What are you most looking forward to in terms of what the audience is going to be experiencing as part of this? What are you most looking forward to people discovering?
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
I think it’s so hard because Bound has so many elements with it. I think there’s going to be as they explore through the building, they’re going to come across so much. Right now, I’m really excited about the set. I don’t know if that’s because that’s something I’ve not really ventured into much before. It’s a new area for me as well. And also, aside from the set, we’re really focusing on smell. That’s something that really excites me.
voidspace:
The link to strong emotions as well, and memory, and all of those things, is going to be so relevant to you.
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
Massively. I think smell might be the strongest scent for memory recall. That’s something that I’ve always been really interested in: how do we unlock these memories? I think that’s what this immersive world can hopefully support.
voidspace:
Is the set going to be fully explorable as well? Are you going to have your draws of things to discover?
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
You’ll definitely be able to explore. I want to make sure that you can explore everything. You can be anywhere in the space that you feel comfortable to be, or if you want to challenge your way of viewing something, I want that to be possible. You can definitely have a little rummage in things. You can definitely have a little sniff of something. You can definitely touch things – just not the performers, because there are boundaries, in BOUND. There is so much room for play, exploration. And also, if you don’t want to do that, you can stand way back. That’s fine as well. That’s another way of viewing things.
voidspace:
That’s wonderful. To finish: What advice would you have for aspiring creators in this field?
Amber Jarman-Crainey:
When I started out, I was very much a person who would say: I’m going to do that in the future because right now, I’m doing this at the moment. I was being mentored by Marah Satfford, who works with Secret Cinema, and she got me to think of long term goals and short term goals. And I was talking so passionately about this immersive theatre project. And I was saying: when I’m older, – acting like I was 10 – I’m going to do this. And she just stopped me. She said: Amber, start putting this in place now. Don’t fear. Any fears that you have, allow them to come on the journey with you because they’ll help you create this. Start it now. Don’t wait. Start it now.
So, that’s my advice: do it now. Don’t be fearful. The only reason we’re fearful is because we’re so passionate about that thing. Start it now. Don’t let anything else hold you back. And even if some things do hold you back – because of budget etc – it doesn’t mean you can’t start scribbling things down and planning things, because then by the time you manage to get the budget, or you manage to get the venue you want, or the cast you want or the end goal you want, you’re already in the process. And I think the biggest step is how do you start the process? So I think it’s just start.
Bound runs at Bargehouse, London from 25th August – 7th September 2024
Buy tickets here
Discount code: BOUND15
The space will be open as a free installation outside of performance times. Artists that I have been working with to create the multisensory space are;
Lara ‘Wild Renata Flowers’
Susie ‘Creative Draping Academy’
Sara ‘Willow Twisters’