I had three encounters with Lennox Mutual, each subtly and not-so-subtly different from the others. Ostensibly a call to a customer support line for the eponymous life insurance company, the audience (you) are greeted by a cheerful, if uncanny (a product of elegantly outre delivery on the part of the performer) assistant. Are they real, or perhaps an AI? This is just one of many questions I should have asked, but did not, during my three sessions with New York’s Candle House Collective’s remote immersive theatrical experience (their words, not mine).
Such blurring of the real and unreal is one of the integral features of the show, the resulting fictional world occupying the same neighbourhood as Apple TV’s superlative Severance.
The spine of the interaction is the enumerated menu, offering such delights as the company’s address, information about the company, customer support, and the holy grail: the chance to make an appointment. When I tell you that the journey to Lennox Mutual headquarters is one laced with high horror fantasy and absurdist wordplay, that is only a glimpse of the impossible task set before you.
Where it will all lead, I cannot say. The Reddit thread for fans of the show is ripe with participants who can count their calls in the 10s, even 20s.
Such blurring of the real and unreal is one of the integral features of the show, the resulting fictional world occupying the same neighbourhood as Apple TV’s superlative Severance.
I will say that the two excellent performers who engaged me over my three encounters gave continual glimpses of mysterious depths, and of tragedies and triumphs awaiting the caller with the time to dive deeper. Candle House Collective clearly have their actors wonderfully well prepared, on top of — I presume — excellent personal improv skills. For you can derail the conversation (or try to) at any time, or provide non-sequitur answers to their probing, without the slightest crack or hesitation in their repartee.
Whether gently ripping me for suggesting that the helpline helper could do worse than spend their dying moments with me, or adapting a serialised journey through a very weird fantasy land, no matter how sensible my choices, this is a seamless and wonderfully crafted sandbox of a show. It’s amazing what a talented voice actor, a magical script, and a few lo-fi sound effects can conjure.
Candle House Collective clearly have their actors wonderfully well prepared, on top of — I presume — excellent personal improv skills. For you can derail the conversation (or try to) at any time, or provide non-sequitur answers to their probing, without the slightest crack or hesitation in their repartee.
And what is it that they are conjuring? Well, it’s one part existential investigation of…everything, and one part quixotic adventure with no hope of success. It’s also a chance to form a relationship with a character in a way theatre rarely, if ever, offers – and hardly ever to this extent. So whatever you conjure, you will share the responsibility for its birth and cultivation thereafter. How fun? How strange!
If I never encounter Lennox Mutual again, I still won’t forget it anytime soon. If I do, I wonder if my previous experience will let me delve deeper and quicker, and whether, like the dwarves of Moria, I’ll dig too deep and summon up something darker. I hope so. I also suspect the star rating for this is essentially meaningless — someone else’s experience of Lennox Mutual will, or could be, so very different from mine. So consider the stars at the top of this review a placeholder.
The only thing you need to know is that I would do it again, and I think you should too.
Featured Image: Lennox Mutual poster (c) Candle House Collective
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