I want to be a human being, not a human doing

Who Wants To Be? held an event as part of the Wunderbar Festival in Newcastle last on Friday night. The principle of the show is that the audience decide what to do with the admission fees raised at the box office through a process of brainstorming, refinement and eventual voting. If the principle appeals at all then you're likely to be swept up by the show in practice, with easy-going moderation and imaginative, high-tech presentation reflecting the game at high speed. There were technical problems, but they didn't matter. My wife and I (and, I'd bet, a hefty chunk of the audience) left feeling good from a happy ending, others would have at least felt like they had received a good run for their money; the £10 admission fee felt like it was well worth the money.

( Read more... )

Meg and I both really enjoyed ourselves and send our impressed thanks to both the Who Wants To Be? staff and the Wunderbar Festival team. There are many sorts of people who would have enjoyed the show; for instance, I think there would have been a fair degree of crossover between people who would have enjoyed Who Wants To Be? and people who would have enjoyed the Sandpit session the night beforehand. If the concept appeals, the implementation has a very high chance of hitting the target.

Two nights at the Wunderbar Festival, two excellent events! Since then, I have learned that the Wunderbar Festival intends to be a biennial event. Roll on late 2011, I say; more of the same would be very welcome, but different events inspired by the extremely high standards of creativity and following vaguely along the similar sort of fun could delight us in familiar-but-different ways. My eyes have been opened in wonderful ways and I'm thrilled to have new talent, that's right up my street, to follow.

Wunderbar by name, sehr wunderbar by nature!