“Lennox Mutual,” created by Evan Neiden, Olivia Behr, and Joel Meyers.
Directed by Jacob Leaf and Evan Neiden. Presented by Candle House Collective.
By Michele Markarian
I don’t even know where to begin about my three phone call experiences with “Lennox Mutual,” the latest remote immersive theatre experience from Candle House Collective. According to Candle House Collective’s website, Lennox Mutual is “an alternate reality experience by phone.” Very true. The alternate reality was such that I found myself believing it was real. Which, for a theatrical experience that took place in my office and on my cell phone, is pretty impressive. And creative. As well as the most intriguing and unique theatrical experience I’ve had in a while.
According to its recorded message, Lennox Mutual is the #1 Life Insurance Company in the world today. Like any company worth its corporate weight, Lennox Mutual consists of a labyrinth of recorded messaging that each participant must circle through before the twenty to twenty-three minute phone session ends. Finding the keys to the castle is impossible, but nonetheless entertaining. The automated system has a solid wall of defense in place to keep you from getting to a real person in a frustrating parody of real life, only more personalized.
I say automated system because it is hard to believe that the voice on the other end of the phone is actually an actor, and an excellent one at that. As it’s an interactive experience, you are a big part of it, and you’re working without a script, which is thrilling and dangerous – in a good way – and surprising. It’s a wonderful way to express one’s pent-up frustration from years of dealing with machinery over the phone instead of people. At one point, when the automated voice asked how I was feeling, I, in a moment of startling vulnerability, told her I was frustrated and that I felt like she didn’t care about me. What followed was an apology that actually sounded caring and remorseful, almost human, before the automation once again became impenetrable.
The opposite happened in my third session. In a word association exercise with the automated gatekeeper, my strong and positive association with a certain word was rejected, and the exercise stalled. I swore the automated voice sounded spiteful – indeed, almost human – when he told me my feelings for the subject weren’t deep enough. I had no recourse, the voice being automated, but he made up for it with another exercise, a successful one, that restored my feelings of self-worth.
The hold music for Lennox Mutual is alternately elegant and jaunty. On all three calls, the automated voice – played by two different actors – sang and sang well. At times I burst out laughing, only because there’s clearly no way out of the phone maze, and it’s just funny. The illusion that any of your choices will lead anywhere is just that, yet Lennox Mutual reminds us that it’s the journey, not the destination. There’s a playfulness to the work that reminds me of Yoko Ono and the infamous exhibit at London’s Indica Gallery, where John Lennon climbed the ladder to one of her pieces, picked up a magnifying glass that was at the top, and read the word YES. Do it! Book your sessions today at https://candlehousecollective.com/
