ASMR HOUR
Yours, 43 Moray Place Dunedin, Dunedin
13/03/2025 - 14/03/2025
Production Details
Amy Atkins – creator/producer/performer
Amy Grace Laura
Join Letitia Lickkit, an award-winning live ASMR artist, for an hour of brain melting ASMR triggers requested by you! Submerge your senses into the golden, aesthetically pleasing world of Letitia Lickkit ASMR.
ASMR HOUR
13-14 March 2025, 6pm
Yours, Central Dunedin
ASMR HOUR is a 60 minute interactive theatrical live ASMR show.
What is ASMR and what is it for?
ASMR – Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response – refers to the scientifically recognised ‘tingling’ sensation some people experience from seeing or hearing certain ‘triggers.’ Triggers are often whispering, the tapping of wood,the crinkling of paper, or attentively executed boring tasks such as preparing vegetables. It’s a phenomenon that has seen millions of videos created for YouTube with billions of views.
People who experience ASMR watch Trigger Videos to relax and calm themselves. Science in peer reviewed journals has found ASMR to have the same relaxing and calming effects on the body as meditation. ‘ASMR is a reliable and physiologically-rooted experience that may have therapeutic benefits for mental and physical health.’ More than a feeling, Giulia L. P., et al., 2018
What will happen?
The audience enter a quiet, sparkly, golden world.
On stage, from a golden throne Letitia Lickkit performs into mics.
Without context or headphones what the performance is, is unknowable.
The audience find seats – a stool, a cushion, or a beanbag.
When they’re ready, they put on a special pair of headphones.
Now they’re transported into the world of Letitia Lickkit.
And a surreal swirling space of sound is opened up.
Letitia Lickkit whispers to them, crunches corn chips, and taps walnuts together.
She reads unintelligible recipes and soothes the senses.
Occasionally she asks for ASMR trigger suggestions.
The audience use an app, Eventee, to suggest new triggers or like other requests.
Letitia Lickkit performs the requests, everyone listens to the same thing.
But no one has the same experience.
Mood – silly, warm, calm, cheerful, enthralled.
Performed by Amy Atkins
Clown , Comedy , Improv , Physical Theatre , Theatre , Solo ,
60 mins
Little Sounds: Glorious and Grotesque
Review by Ellen Murray 14th Mar 2025
ASMR Hour promises tingles and triggers, and it delivers: little sounds ranging from the glorious—paper ripping, buttons clinking—to the grotesque—crunching corn chips, gurgling water. Award-winning performer Amy Atkins introduces us to her clown character “Letitia Lickkit.” A sequined creature, part magician’s assistant, part showgirl—beveled legs and all—and part Youtuber, the alliterative Lickkit brings a live ASMR show to Dunedin Fringe.
ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) is a popular subgenre of online content that includes amplified sounds such as whispering, tapping, or crinkling. Devotees experience a certain static-like “tingling” sensation in response to these triggers. Fans of ASMR will certainly love this show. Each audience member receives their own headphones, and Lickkit performs seven ASMR scenes, shaped by both live audience interaction and responses from a QR code poll. A camera and several microphones ensure the audience always receives an up-close view of the performance.
The scenes range from an improvised ASMR bake sale to a looping cookbook soundscape to an interactive surreal palm reading. The cookbook scene was a particular highlight. Lickkit builds a looping soundscape of shuffling paper, finger tapping, and a sonorous recipe rendition of page 438 of the cookbook. Hosted at the kitschy Yours cooperative café, the small space was full with about thirty audience members.
Although the venue was cozy, there was a fair bit of environmental sounds—blenders, coffee grinders, chatting—that were often distracting. The audience was mixed between those who listen to ASMR regularly and those who had never heard of the genre before. The audience remained engaged throughout the show, smiling, laughing, and occasionally cringing at certain sounds. The children in the audience seemed to enjoy the show especially.
For those who don’t experience any tingling sensation, it’s still worth supporting an innovative, one-of-a-kind Fringe show. Sufferers of misophonia beware: the eating ASMR scene is a modern Grand Guignol for those repulsed by mouth sounds. In fact, the audience voted against this particular scene in the poll, so its inclusion was especially painful and even a little baffling. Luckily, audience members can remove their headphones or adjust their volume when sounds become too intense.
This entry proves the value of Dunedin Fringe as a home for innovative, interesting work. The show is a perfect fit for families, but those with specific sensory needs should do a bit of research on ASMR before so they can decide whether its triggers will be tingly or terrifying.
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
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