Many have been puzzled over the past week by posters for C.A.R.N. (or Careers Advisory Resource Network or even C.A.R.N.IVAL), wondering what careers could possibly have to do with ‘an immersive theatre experience’. Whilst C.A.R.N. is definitely immersive, even for the extensive team behind it who have collaborated at every turn, whether it will help you on your way to economic success is probably down to you, and that is possibly the most important reason to go to Oriel to watch the sunset in 6th week. This play has a real chance at telling you something about yourself.
The basic premise is that you are at an event where you have the chance to meet ‘Ogden and Bogden’, a corporate law firm for whose Summer Internship you get the feeling some, including Louisa the president of OxForward, would kill.
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She shouldn’t have to as she has already gained a place but, as her waiting staff misbehave and the rest of the OxForward committee seem not to have fully bought into her vision for the evening, the possibility is ever present that she may do something drastic to save face in front of a prospective employer. As the tension mounts and relationships deteriorate, you selfishly hope that if she does happen to lash out it won’t be at you.
However, this is secretly a very organised chaos. With hundreds of post-it notes in hand Chris Adams, producer and co-director, allegedly knows what is going on where and when. It might be fairer to say that it is the script that has been lost rather than the plot, since so much of the dialogue is audience driven, whilst the sweeping premise of the play is fluid but not unchecked. On the individual level, everyone will have a different experience, and try as you might it is unlikely that there will be time to interact with everyone – if you arrive early, go to the bar area where there will not only be Pimm’s for sale but you will be able to meet the waiters even before the event has officially begun. Adams personally sees the entire event as inspired by and following the trajectory of the Greek tragedy, Euripides’ Bacchae, in which frenzy gives a mother the strength to rend her own son limb from limb.
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It probably won’t degenerate that much, as far as I’m aware, but the atmosphere of the piece, with its red lights and enclosed spaces, definitely creates a surreal lack of inhibition as you share dreams with strangers. Either prepare a character for yourself, in what might be the easiest way to begin your Oxford acting career, or dare to lay bare the whole truth with consequences which will outlast the evening’s formal conclusion – a nice piece of ring composition which breaks the spell. If you are hoping to go into Law you may find it a useful practice, as I doubt any other mock interviewer will be quite so honest or brutal as these actors, who are hoping you’ll just play along.
What I did learn about myself, as I acted out the ritual of telling a stranger a concoction of half-lies confident in the fact that they won’t remember a word I said the next day, is that I’m an egoist strongly committed to relativism and my failure thus far in life to grow a beard or even a moustache will have dramatic consequences in my quest for a job. You see, what everyone wants is real success and I believe, with a little co-operation from their audience, these guys at C.A.R.N. might just achieve it.
