“A unique experience hidden in the gardens”
A journey through immersive 1-1 theatre, The Only Way Out Is In, takes place in the pavilion in Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Explorers Garden. An experience where you are guided through your heart and a number of your senses, it’s a unique experience for those wanting to take a risk and experience a different type of theatre. Commissioned by Chris O’Connell of the award-winning Theatre Absolute in Coventry and selling out it’s premier run during the Coventry UK City of Culture 2021; the piece was a part of three-year long season ‘Humanistan’ influenced with the words of late Benjamin Zephaniah “What are you prepared to give up for a more equal society?” Now at Pitlochry for the Scottish premiere, the experience has been adapted and re-designed years on fitting into our modern society. On arrival and taken up to the pavilion by the lovely staff at Pitlochry Festival, chatting about the current shows, you are taken through the beautiful explorer’s garden, which is free to the public to visit until Halloween 2026, when the garden closes. The garden is described as a way to “experience art with nature”, helping to set the atmosphere for the experience ahead.
Greeted by Sharron at the door, the space felt warm and welcoming with a smell of incense and objects to admire and the sound of wham! playing on vinyl in the background. The atmosphere feels like you are walking into a shop with a mystical and magical nature to it accompanied by Sharron’s positive and trusting nature with a sense of curiosity with the experience itself. Sharron takes you on an adventure exploring the senses of smell, touch and hearing whilst looking at the world around us and appreciating nature through our imagination and heart rather than our eyes.
The carefully curated soundscape from Ben Scappaticcio helps to set the scene and guide you through the story that unfolded within the experience, with sounds of train and busy city roads to gentle rain and the sound of the ocean it felt like a guided meditation from start to end, letting go and taking a risk in a peaceful setting. The experience ends looking out at the breathtaking view nature has to offer in Pitlochry gardens and makes you reflect on how wonderful nature is and how we as humans need to take more time for ourselves in general and look after the world around us. The experience itself was something unique yet mystical about it, however a longer version or a way to incorporate sight to the experience would be an interesting addition. For those looking for a risk or adventure whilst exploring nature through an art form, this is the perfect piece at Edinburgh Fringe level to experience at Pitlochry Festival Theatre.
The Only Way Out Is In runs at Pitlochry Theatre until Sunday 28th June.