Farrago Bazaar is described as an immersive experience. I turn up at Mt Victoria’s Innermost Gardens full of curiosity. The production is the brainchild of Red Scare Theatre’s Cassandra Tse, who’s both playwright and director, and it forms part of her PhD dissertation.  

The Innermost Gardens is a lovely spot by day and now it’s the early evening venue for a special event – the Farrago Bazaar – held by and for members of the various tribes in that fanciful land. To be eligible for entry, I’ve had to agree to some ‘rules of engagement’. I’ve been given a name and I’ve had to study background material about my tribe – its values, beliefs and practices.

And bazaar? That’s the term for a market in a Middle Eastern or Asian country. And the attendees? Here’s where the real charm, fascination and challenge come in. Although there’s a theatrical cast of 20 involved, the rest of us, numbering about 80, are both audience and participants. On top of that, I’m the reviewer! Talk about wearing three hats at once.

Hats or headgear of some kind are issued to all tribal members and usefully distinguish them: woolly hats for us Jayans, yellow caps for the Tolvils and scarlet headbands for the Zans. Thus attired, instructed to hold to our individual roles and warned against violence in any form, we are sent forth to savour the delights of the bazaar.

There’s a vegetable stall at which I’m offered a raw spud, an encounter with a couple of nun like figures to whom I confess that I’ve sneaked some meat into my diet even though my fellow Jayans are strictly vegetarian, a visit an apothecary who offers me an unlikely cure for my obsessive writing habit, and I tell a story to someone called the chief librariat, who duly writes it down using a feather quill.

Other linguistic delights include our names: I’m Afla, and I meet or hear about Saya, Yon, Omar and Fayan. As well as the librariat, there are musicalators whose performances punctuate the proceedings with some truly lovely songs – and there’s a category named ‘Unwelcomed’. This label gets applied to anyone who violates the values of the group. How’s that for a modern-day metaphor?

On my initial walk through the grounds, I’d spotted several long tables apparently set for a meal of some kind. I’m still amazed to find everyone is invited to dinner halfway through the evening! We scoff vegetable soup and raw greens, and ingest further interesting company, comments and references to tribal history. By this time, I’ve given up trying to distinguish between actual actors and us pretend ones! (Is there a difference?)

The evening concludes with separate tribal council meetings where important decisions are to be made. We Jayans have a moral question to solve involving the fate of one of our members. How fascinating to listen to individual opinions on the matter before there’s a vote!

Farrago Bazaar is a unique theatrical experience: I am in awe of Cassandra Tse for conceiving such a production, enrolling the huge cast and crew necessary to carry it out and above all for creating an extraordinary collaboration between actors and audience.   

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