Review: One Day, Maybe, Hull City of Culture

It’s the brainchild of dreamthinkspeak who have form when it comes to site specific theatre and here they have turned a redundant 1960s eyesore in the headquarters of a fictional South Korean technology company Kasang.

At the forefront of virtual reality gaming, online shopping and the kind of domestic appliances that can alert you as soon as you run out of milk, the premise is that Kasang is opening its doors to the public to mark its 10th anniversary.

It’s also the 30th anniversary of the arrival of democracy in South Korea after an uprising in which up to 2,000 lost their lives. That bit is true and it’s here where it all gets a bit confused.

Armed with tablets we wander through Kasang’s mini shopping mall, become players in its slightly terrifying new game Hostage 4, which involves wandering through a maze avoiding the gaze of guards and then, well I’m not quite sure.

From the present we step back into the past, piecing together the brutal interrogations in pre-democratic South Korea, there’s a tea ceremony and a eerily beautiful memorial to those who died.

Before we leave, data recorded from our visit is displayed on a wall. It turns out that I am a middle of the road shopper and not very useful to advertisers, but I am good at walking slowly out of a maze.

It’s all very clever, but when you have to be handed an explanation sheet as you leave the concept may need a little refinement.

To Oct 1, hull2017.co.uk