Having secured myself a press ticket, I was excited to join fellow curious questers on the first day of this city wide creative puzzle game. An award winning interactive event at the Adelaide Fringe festival, I was surprised to be the only attendee at this Thursday’s prototype day.
I was hesitant at first, but the confidence and enthusiasm from my “Wanderer” quest giver, played by Carmel Clavin, put any shyness to rest. She recounted my mission of marrying art and intellect for a secret society that would take me across Edinburgh Old Town. For the rest of the Fringe, participants will work in small groups simultaneously on different puzzles that direct to a particular location, at which the game continues with art making and further surprises. Each challenge stimulates the groups in different ways, some traditional and some more physical and avant-garde.
The whole experience forced me to happily throw away any very British embarrassment that would usually come with following a map and filing out clues with a pencil about town. Instead, as the Wandering Liminal Society’s playlist montaged my discoveries, I learned even more about our beloved Edinburgh despite living here for years.
With themes of delightful community and “fighting back against the void”, the intimate and inspiring storytelling of the event allowed me to suspend my disbelief and jovially play for an hour on a beautiful afternoon.
Edinburgh Liminal runs on Aug 3, 7-11, 14-18, 21-23 at the Museum of Edinburgh Courtyard. Run time: 1 hour and 15 minutes. Find tickets here
