The Waiting Room

Martine Corompt & Camilla Hannan

Premiering at the newly restored Capitol Theatre Melbourne (one of Melbourne’s original Picture Palaces), The Waiting Room evokes an early 20thC Picture Palace revue with a contemporary twist. Combining cinema, (video & animation) live experimental music (The Overtones Ensemble), surround sound, theatre and an audience mobile phone orchestra, The Waiting Room considers and elaborates on the notion of waiting (waiting for the main event) as an event in itself. Through a variety of gestures and motifs, the notion of how and why we wait in our lives, becomes the substance of the artwork, where the audience will experience a carefully choreographed sequence of multiform cinematic moments, prompting and preparing them for something that seemingly never fully eventuates, as there is no feature film. This waiting motif combines ideas of traditional entertainment and the avant-garde while also an acknowledgement of our contemporary obsession with digital distractions while waiting. 

The event is made up of four Acts, or stages of waiting, titled Distraction, Disruption, Compliance, and Reward. Each of these acts is hosted by a ‘preacher’ in the tradition of the great evangelists, who guidse and energise the audience throughout the events. The preacher is part snake oil salesman, evangelical zealot and dishevelled madman and at each stage, the audience is unsure of which version they are going to get.

The performance culminates in an archetypal cinematic event –an experimental live rendition of the THX surround sound intro sequence – a motif usually heralding the beginning of the main event, but with The Waiting Room it signals the end. This sequence, is performed on tuning rods by the Overtones ensemble, amplified in immersive surround sound and accompanied by the audience mobile phone orchestra.

The Waiting Room redefines the traditions of the cinematic institution, repurposes contemporary digital screen culture and ultimately provokes and confuses our sense of what it means to wait....