Stockholm Fringe Festival:
Friends for fun ger TYTTEBAERPOLITIET
An interactive theater play built on game structures. The audience is invited to a fictional security guard training. Through games and team building exercises, they experience both the temptation and the resistance that submission to a hierarchical system evokes. We examine concepts like competition, team spirit, hierarchies and authority while zooming in and out between petty conflicts by the coffee machine and philosophical arguments.
The security industry guards economical and political interests, motivated by a sense of national community and from a perspective of caretaking. Behind the uniforms lies a narrative and language of love and care that creates and divides communities and motivates surveillance and authority.
An increasing presence of security forces is especially visible in larger cities; uniformed officers are a normalized element in the cityscape. We examine the trend of privatization of welfare structures and shine a critical spotlight on this lucrative industry.
The audience is invited to the last day of a coursus, after which they will become security guards in the fictional company No Safety No Fun. Games activate the audience and lower the bar for participating in more challenging situations.
At their arrival everyone receives a nametag, an alterego to hide behind when they are asked to take stands during the play. A scoreboard shows the prestations of the audience members and lays a foundation for competition right from the start. All questions, actions and possible sabotages from the audience affect the development of the play.