True Lies

CAUGHT, A NEW play by Singapore Repertory Theatre, promises a theatrical experience like no other. Staged in a real art gallery, Miaja Gallery just off Martin Road, it centres on a dissident Chinese artist Lin Bo whose version of the truth keeps shifting. But that's not all - your understanding of what theatre is keeps shifting too, as Caught allows you to experience the story differently from any other audience member when you make a choice to participate in its events. ''You decide how far you want to go into the rabbit hole,'' says its New York-based director Ed Sylvanus Iskandar mysteriously.

Ed, 37, has been making immersive theatre for several years in the US. Immersive theatre is a form of theatre that's usually staged outside of traditional performance spaces. Rather than having the audience sit and watch the story unfold, it typically requires them to be up on their feet and participating in the story themselves. How they respond to the action may determine the outcome of the play and the quality of their experiences.

Ed says: ''The play changes its shape and form as quickly as it dispenses characters. When I first read Caught written by Christopher Chen, I kept turning the pages and wondering: What on earth is going on here? As the director, I've built the play in a similar manner, in that it's a little bit like a live social video game. You start at a specific level, you play that level's game, and once you've obtained a certain amount of understanding, you'll be able to access the next level, and the level beyond that, and so on - though, to be sure, you're not so much ascending the levels as you are burrowing further down that rabbit hole.''