A mysterious, unpredictable and silly social experiment that’s as reliant on its audience as it is determined to surprise them
If you arrive at Handle with Care expecting a traditional piece of theatre – lights down, full cast, and the audience politely and quietly observing from the safety of their seats – you may be thrown slightly (or entirely) off-balance. Ontroerend Goed call the piece a theatre performance, but it’s closer to an interactive social experiment – one-part guided experience, one-part group psychology exercise, and one-part ‘what on earth is going on and why am I suddenly on a stage reading from a script I didn’t know I’d agreed to?’
What makes Handle with Care such a challenge to describe, and even harder to review, is that the show is wholly shaped by the audience. There is a structure, and a sense of direction, but there is no fixed version of the show, and certainly no universal experience. The personalities within the group massively impact the direction of the show – which means that my version of the experience is not only unique, but entirely irreplicable. Any reviewer describing their experience can only offer one possible version, and in my case, I suspect that my experience was heavily impacted by the fact that I went alone.
My group consisted of about 20 people, the large majority of whom already knew each other. They arrived buzzing, comfortable and immediately familiar in a way that really influenced the direction of the show. Whilst Handle with Care doesn’t require you to attend with someone else – and the group was perfectly friendly and welcoming – your enjoyment is undeniably shaped by the group dynamic, and being surrounded by a per-existing social circle made it difficult to get involved in quite the same way. Whilst the experience didn’t resonate with me personally, I can easily imagine that going with friends would shift the whole thing into something more silly and joyful.
Because this is a show that’s best experienced with minimal prior knowledge, I won’t go into much detail about the structure or ‘plot’ (a word that applies here only in the loosest sense). The gist is this: you arrive at the theatre and there’s no actors, no technicians – just a box in the middle of the stage, and an excited audience. Control is then handed over to the attendees – to open the box and react to the contents.
An important thing to be aware of is that the show’s marketing suggests that you can choose your level of participation, whereas in reality it’s expected that everyone should get involved at least a little. Nobody sits comfortably on the sidelines. Our whole group found ourselves on stage multiple times – sometimes en masse, sometimes individually, sometimes reading from scripts, sometimes performing small solo tasks. At one point I even found myself having to swap an item of clothing with a stranger. If the thought of reading aloud in front of strangers, being silly on demand, or participating in playful group tasks fills you with dread, this might not be the show for you. I managed it, but I was very aware of being ‘the lone attendee’, which did slightly dampen the fun.
The most fascinating aspect of Handle with Care is its life beyond this performance. The show has taken place in cities across multiple countries, and we were reminded that our strange little hour was just one in a long chain of similar-yet-different experiences, each shaped by the specific quirks of the people involved. There’s an undeniable thematic thread of community, humanity and the idea of ‘connection’ running throughout the piece. I could see it clearly, even if the intended emotional punch didn’t quite land for me.
Even with my mild reservations, I would still recommend the experience to anyone curious. Handle with Care is surprising from start to finish, and despite not personally connecting with it as deeply as the show intended, I was genuinely intrigued by how the mix of personalities steered the show. Watching who stepped forward, who held back, who stirred the pot – all of that was compelling in a way that a scripted show could never be.Is it for everyone? Absolutely not. If the idea of being silly on a stage in front of strangers makes you cringe, you might find the hour more stressful than exciting. But if you’re someone who enjoys being on stage, likes to be surprised, and watches a show like Taskmaster and thinks they’d love to have a go, then Handle with Care might be exactly your kind of experience. And if you bring along a few friends, you might leave with a story you’ll be talking about for weeks.