Reviewed by Nadia Free­man

U R Here is an invit­a­tion to take things a little less ser­i­ously, to for­get about the busi­ness of adult­hood and be play­ful. Set away from the day-to-day rhythm of urb­an liv­ing. Bar­bar­i­an Pro­duc­tions draws us out to Mar­tin Luck­ie Park in Ber­ham­pore.

On arrival, my group is wel­comed by 80’s fit­ness instruct­ors who help us limber up and pre­pare our minds for the chal­lenge ahead. We are then giv­en cards that will become our pass­ports for the rest of the per­form­ance.

What comes next is a delight­ful escape from con­ven­tion. Our team are required to com­plete a series of activ­it­ies while biz­zaro-world tele­tu­bby-like creatures roam around shar­ing mean­ing­less insight. With each activ­ity, we gain super­powers includ­ing ‘the abil­ity to care deeply about oth­ers’ or affirm­a­tions such as ‘Mauria te Pono’.

Once we have met the chal­lenges, we are deemed qual­i­fied to move on to the next stage, where we meet a gate­keep­er who asks for our lead­er. A quick con­fer­ence between mem­bers of the group and I am dubbed lead­er by default as no one else wants the role. As ‘lead­er’ I have to answer a series of ques­tions that will determ­ine where the gate­keep­ers dir­ects us.

Wan­der­ing across wide green fields we meet a team of sci­ent­ists mon­it­or­ing the activ­ity of an uniden­ti­fied being they call ‘it’. What is it? you may ask, well, that is for you to find out.

U R Here leaves you won­der­ing where exactly you are. Per­haps Wel­ling­ton, but per­haps some­where else? Maybe exactly where you need to be? It feels like a nice escape from real­ity as you stumble across cos­tumed musi­cians in the woods or a worm with answers to all things.

There is a res­on­at­ing theme here about change, but not neces­sar­ily cohe­sion as you make your way from one area to anoth­er. I think U R Here is an explor­a­tion of a vil­lage full of vari­ous indi­vidu­als and com­munit­ies that do not neces­sar­ily inter­re­late with each oth­er but are part of the same world non­ethe­less.

I recom­mend this as a fun day out with friends, espe­cially the kids. Make sure to wear clothes you don’t mind get­ting a little messy and shoes to walk through fields. I also recom­mend inform­ing people on arrival if you have mobil­ity needs due to the fair amount of walk­ing.