Ontroerend Goed: Thanks for Being Here at Lowry
Tom Grieve, Contributing WriterBook now
Ontroerend Goed- Thanks for Being Here
Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.
After wowing audiences at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, internationally renowned Belgian theatre-makers Ontroerend Goed bring the ambitious Thanks for Being Here to Lowry. The show is billed as an ingenious, discombobulating ode to the audience which uses live video streams to place the spectator right on stage as part of the show.
Sounds unusual? Don’t worry, you’re in good hands: Ontroerend Goed has been creating this sort of interactive theatre for over 20 years now. Lowry regulars will remember last year’s Handle With Care, which consisted of a box mailed to the theatre and placed on stage, at which point the audience took over and followed the instructions held within.
Thanks For Being Here takes a similarly profound approach to audience interaction, utilising live performers and pre-recorded audio but most notably a projected live video feed of the audience itself to play a self-generating game of perspective that will leave you on the edge of your seat.
All of which means that no two shows are the same. Reviewing the Edinburgh run in The Guardian last year, critic Mark Fisher praised the show as “funny, accepting and warm-hearted” while raving about “the head-spinning thrill” of an audience-centric show delivered in a spirit of communal joy.
As mentioned, Ontroerend Goed are experienced, empathetic hands when it comes to audience interaction and they double promise that you don’t have to do anything but sit back and experience the show should you choose. The theatre collective finds reason for hope and celebration in the gathering of a room full of strangers. Your presence is all that is required.
Thanks for Being Here is at Lowry for two nights only this October.
