Weird and vengeful

Southwark Playhouse has moved. Its new home is a warren of arcades carved out of the massive viaduct that carries commuter trains into London Bridge station. Its latest show is a ‘promenade performance’ about Peter Abelard, the thinker and cleric, and Eloise, the thinker and sex bomb. ‘Promenade’ means the audience don’t just sit there being entertained, they have to work. We gathered in a damp dark hall at the start of the show while the cast of black-robed monks milled about muttering ominously. We were split into small groups and herded into a vestry where we each received a hooded cloak and a belt of cord. Togged up, we filed into a gloomy pit where a pool of water shimmered in the half-light. Audience and players were now identically dressed. Creepy. Patrolling monks adjusted our gowns. An abbot mounted the rostrum and began hectoring us about sin and damnation.