“The Extra People” by Ant Hampton (2015)

A part of his ongoing series of performance pieces (called autoteatro) exploring interaction and “self-sufficient” performance, The Extra People is a site-specific and immersive performance for large theatres, where 15 audience members sit in the seats and watch another 15 on stage. The ‘audience’ members wear headphones; they hear the audio equivalent of optical illusions–binaural recordings made from the exact location they now occupy. What they hear seems to be movement and activity around the theater. They are instructed over their headphones to illuminate certain parts of the theater with their (provided) flashlights. The ‘on-stage’ participants are glimpsed, mysteriously. After half an hour, the ‘audience’ members find themselves replacing those on stage, only to discover that another 15 have appeared in the seats they’ve left behind. The piece cycles this way, for hours on end.