Thanks for Being Here ★★

Belgian theatre company Ontroerend Goed prides itself on pushing the boundaries of what theatre can be, and their innovative works that blur the lines between audience members and performers have earned them a deserved stellar reputation and eight Fringe First Awards. Their show, £¥€$ (LIES), where audience members become global financiers in a dark and ultimately dastardly casino environment, is an unforgettable personal favourite, so it’s with a grim sigh that it must be reported that their newest show is not up to snuff. In fact, it’s debatable that it’s even a show.

Perhaps that’s the point. Using Thanks for Being Here as a title is in and of itself a bit of a provocation. Is it an expression of gratitude, or is it an apology being given in advance? The company does acknowledge and analyse many of the possibilities that the title conjures, an exercise that is somewhat interesting but also somewhat indulgent.

Most of what happens in Thanks for Being Here cannot be relayed without spoiling the broth, as it were, so this review will comment no more on the production’s content. But suffice it to say that this experience is going to be incredibly divisive among its attendees. That alone will be sufficient reason for many to line up to see it, and power to them. But a gimmick does not a show make. Nor does a concept. And Thanks for Being Here, which in its description claims to be “a celebration of your presence,” feels ultimately, and sadly, little more than a gimmicky concept that is a celebration of the company’s cleverness. The pleasure is theirs, not ours.