I’ve been watching the buzz on Facebook around The Intrepid Bazaar’s Director Jim Fishwick’s Art Heist (a delicious homophone on Art House), Sydney’s newest immersive escape room, and hoped that that would be making an appearance here in Wellington. But, sadly I was disappointed, only to have that disappointment changed to delight at The Intrepid Bazaar.

From here on in there are spoilers sprinkled throughout. 

Intrepid and Bazaar are wonderful words. The first can be defined as fearless and the second refers to any permanently closed space in which there are stalls selling things.

Each 20 minutes or so four punters are met at the door and brought into the space by two Cupids, with attendant wings and wands. As such we are to be mentored in helping the ‘people’ in various locations find love. Sounds simple doesn’t it. There are rules about our interactions and what we can do as ‘cupids’ with the characters.

The locations are simple: a restaurant is a table and two pews, a park is an inside bench on a raised platform, amongst others. We are given two minutes to get to know our possible cases and then we are called together to nominate who we’d like to be a cupid for. Out of our two choices we are assigned a case and away we go.

Whether by themselves or in pairs or threes, these characters chat about this and that while we, invisible and silent to them, watch, listen, learn and prod to action. As the short time races by my case seems to be getting on very well with another character until another cupid’s choice comes in and cock-blocks. Well the quote is “the course of true love never did run smooth”.

By the end our mentors round us up and elicit the inside feelings that each character has now. One of us hit the jackpot, and some of us will never get our wings I fear. Then we are ushered out into the Courtyard smiling and communal.

Wellingtonians don’t often get the chance to experience an environmental improvisational experience like this. We have immersive moments but they are usually contained within an experience of an event rather than being in the internal world akin to an honest soap opera. We, as cupids, choose how and where we want to interact and, with our charge, can move easily from location to location. We are right beside the improvised stories/interactions so there is a filmic quality that would be broken if the performers weren’t careful.

Characterisations are all firmly grounded so that the requirements of the format (I can choose to move my case which instantly discontinues a scene; I can hear some internal thoughts while the other performer is frozen) can be adhered to and is open to any bold offers that might threaten to overwhelm the narrative each cupid is trying to form.

The event running time is chosen well; any longer and we might begin to play in a way that goes against our purpose. A bad cupid could put the kaibosh on any good work here but that’s the risk and fun of improv – how might the performers handle that? So later when I think about it, I wish I had pushed further.

I find that because the theme is love, my want and need is for love to happen, so I try my best. The Intrepid Bazaar is certainly fearless, like love, and certainly cannot be bought or sold. The curve balls are there to tilt the room but knowing you only have a couple of minutes to go… It’s like trying to catch the eye of someone you like at a party as they are putting on their coat to leave. 

Such hope, such despair – such fun. 

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