To tell small stories, sometimes you have to go big. From May 26 to 28, the entire city of Brighton is being turned into a pop-up theatre space to encourage everyday people to tell the narratives of their lives. "You could be on your way to work and someone could get up and start performing," says Stef O'Driscoll, artistic director at Nabokov, the theatre company behind Storytelling Army, which premieres at this year's Brighton Festival.
The city's spaces – from buses and supermarkets to pubs and the Palace Pier – will become flash-mob-style theatres. "It will happen only for those people who are there at the time," says O'Driscoll, 30. Nabokov has collaborated with guest director Kate Tempest in an attempt to break down the financial and social barriers around performance art. Around 60 people will share their stories, often about overcoming addiction or mental illness, through spoken word or music.
O'Driscoll hopes the process of performing will help the storytellers get a handle on their issues, while drawing empathy from the crowd. "I'm looking at the etiquette of theatre and shifting it - by using spaces that aren't meant for performances," she says.
Read WIRED's alternative guide to the best festivals in the UK and Europe
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
