photo by Tashi Hall-1.jpg

The Waiting Room

Born in a Taxi forges new frontiers into long-form improvisation, risk and audience-performer reciprocity. Edgy and immediate, intuitive and responsive, a live ‘study’ into virtuosic performance improvisation. 

Deeply personal, performed once a year till they die - same name, same people, different age, different preoccupations. Who will go first?

Photographed by Tashi Hall

Contemporary performance is increasingly concerned with the notion of liveness. WAITING ROOM takes this preoccupation one step further. 

Taxi joyously prises open the experience of ‘waiting’, a period of forced inactivity where self-reflection and ‘people watching’ are heightened.

As the ensemble test social norms within the waiting spaces, the distinction between performer, audience and public becomes blurred. Unpredictable encounters between us become playful collective actions. WAITING ROOM is like a disco of humanity.

Winner: Brisbane Powerhouse Performance Award 

WAITING ROOM has been presented at World Theatre Festival Brisbane Powerhouse, The Substation (Newport Victoria) and The Dog Theatre (Footscray Victoria).

Photographed by Tashi Hall

“The Waiting Room is cutting-edge experimental theatre: a profound exploration of how we choreograph ourselves from chaos. What makes this piece radically beautiful is that it interrogates and embodies the random processes intrinsic to human behaviour. The Waiting Room is a living incarnation of fractal art ★★★★”
— Cameron Woodhead, The Age
“‘Sheer, playful joy”
— Tim Richards, Issimo Magazine
“Don’t expect to sit passively in a darkened theatre when you see The Waiting Room because you will incrementally become part of the performance without really noticing
★★★★”
— Kate Herbert, Herald Sun
“‘A COMPLETE night at the theatre; surprising, eloquent, strange, funny, exhilarating, ridiculous, intimate, awkward, original.’”
— Sue Giles, Polyglot Theatre
Winner of Brisbane Powerhouse Performance Award, Melbourne Fringe Festival Waiting is often an act enforced upon us by random uncontrollable events, making us reflect on who we are, what we have done and what we want to become. The Waiting Room is a container for a collective creative experience. It is a space for possibilities, for unforeseen interactions and events. From the outset, the audience is complicit in the show’s creation. The line between audience and performer fades as genuine in-the-moment exchanges shape the events that follow Contemporary performance is increasingly concerned with the notion of liveness. THE WAITING ROOM takes this preoccupation one step further. Working like a single organism the six ensemble members create and perform each show anew. ‘The Waiting Room is cutting-edge experimental theatre...What makes this piece radically beautiful is that it interrogates and embodies the random processes intrinsic to human behaviour’ Cameron Woodhead, THE AGE ★★★★ ‘sheer, playful joy’ Tim Richards Issimo Magazine ‘DON'T expect to sit passively in a darkened theatre when you see The Waiting Room because you will incrementally become part of the performance without really noticing.’ Kate Herbert Herald Sun ★★★★ ‘The Waiting Room is definitely one of the most Avant-garde and engaging pieces of theatre that I have ever seen’ Melynda von Wayward Toorak Times ★★★★★ ‘..as with so much of Born in a Taxi's art, this is improvised performance that appears anything but - not least because the equations from which it flows are so meticulously considered’ Cameron Woodhead THE AGE ★★★★ '....beguiling movement performance that incorporates the signature, non-verbal, improvisational style and captivating audience engagement that distinguishes the award-winning Born In A Taxi.’ Kate Herbert Herald Sun 2013 ★★★★ Seasons include World Theatre Festival Powerhouse Brisbane Big West Festival The Substation Melbourne Melbourne Fringe Festival, The Dog Theatre Video by Carnival Cinema http://www.carnival cinema.com.au