Audiences are invited to hop aboard a bus for an unusual theatrical adventure through Norwich

Audiences are being invited to hop aboard a specially-converted bus for an unusual theatrical adventure through our fine city.

Theatre company IOU has adapted the double decker into a 40-seat open-air auditorium for a new show called Rear View which is part of this year's Norfolk and Norwich Festival.

Artistic director David Wheeler said: 'IOU always tries to find unusual locations to do shows. We like to work in places that people do not normally think of as venues for theatre.'

Beginning in a life drawing class at The Great Hospital, in Bishopgate, Rear View quickly becomes a moving adventure about a woman's life led by performance poets Cecilia Knapp and Jemima Foxtrot on alternative performances. The audience are driven to different locations where the drama unfolds.

Ms Knapp said: 'We start with a life drawing class, the audience believe they are going to participate in a life drawing class but actually they end up participating in a collection of stories and memories from an older woman who is assumed to be the life model. She is in her 60s but obviously we (Ms Knapp and Ms Foxtrot) are not. We are a physical representation of this woman's energy and life and history and experiences. We hypothesise about the future, look back to the past and examine place. So much of this piece is also about the city becoming your stage and how memories embed themselves in places.'

IOU have picked four locations for the bus to stop at, and rather than being recognisable landmarks they are some of the city's nooks and crannies.

Ms Knapp said: 'It's certainly not like an open top bus sightseeing tour. It's nooks and crannies where we are stopping. It's to emphasise that this is a show about stories and the feelings and the history of everybody and and everyone.'

The audience members are also given headphones to wear through which they hear a specially created soundtrack and interior monologues from the main character.

'I know people say things are immersive all the time but this is totally immersive because you are in this different type of reality, you have headphones on and you are seeing the world like a film set,' said Ms Knapp.

Rear View, which starts at The Great Hospital in Bishopgate, is being performed at various times until Sunday. Tickets £8. To book, visit www.nnfestival.org.uk

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