April 29. Day 119. Hey, that's private

 Privacy used to be this thing we treasured and protected fiercely. Not so much any more. Actually, it's weird. Big organisations all have privacy policies and use them as a reason not to tell you anything about anything. Some of it is very valid and legitimate. Some of it gets quite ridiculous. And while the big end of town is tightening privacy rules at the ground level there's almost no such thing as a private life. Everything, and I mean everything, can be tweeted about, or made the subject of a Facebook post or captured for Instagram or whatever social media you prefer. Such was the topic for Polytoxic's Privacy Settings at Flowstate at Southbank tonight. It was an intriguing little production incorporating projections, light, amazing music and choreographed movement and dance theatre in a way I'd never quite seen before.
My take on it - and I could be quite wrong because it was a pretty open work - was that we have become a mere screen for projections of the views of others.  We are but receptors and creators of carefully orchestrated versions or reality dancing in synchronised formation for maximum impact in the social media world. And the result is a sort of white noise and blare of the cameras and a world were reality if what is stored in the cloud. At least that's what I got out of it. Regardless of whether I'm right or wrong I found it to be 30 minutes of fascinating viewing. Set your privacy settings as you will but there's really no escaping the burning white light of public scrutiny in today's society.
So I gave the production 4.5 out of 5 stars. Drama Being was far, far less impressed. He gave it a mere 2. You can listen to our review here.