When I first saw the Trailer of Strange Factories I instantly wanted to see the whole film. Luckily I was able to visit London around the time when FoolishPeople screened the film at the Cinema Museum. What a perfect location. All events with FoolishPeople are always a surprise to me and they create unforgetable moments. I love that you never know where their stories will take you within. And I love that the film is held in black and white, the dark environment and the landscape. the mysterious and unknown. Mixed with the live part it has been an exciting experience. Every cast member lived their roles. We were guided through the Cinema Museum to explore the characters stories in a different way. Music and sound effects were perfectly chosen and merged with the film and the live experience. A very well created piece of art. It is definitely more of an art film experience to watch Strange Factories. For myself I can say I had an amazing evening and the film is definitely a creation worth watching. I would go see it again! FoolishPeople deserve more notice and I wish them the best of luck for their future projects and films. Can't wait to see what more is to come. A fan from Germany Mirjam

Strange Factories as staged at the Cinema Museum is a hybrid film/immersive theatre experience that addresses the nature of the creative process and how the artist's creation possesses an existence independently of the artist. The experience begins in the queue outside, where actors in masks instruct audience members to be silent during the performance, and inspect and tease them, priming them for what happens inside. The audience is then split into two groups which once inside are introduced to a number of characters in immersive theatre style, invited to consider their role in the performance, plied with (sham) drinks at a bar and participate in a seance-like ceremony. There was plenty of personal interaction in the viewing I attended, with an audience of nine, though I expect this will vary considerably with the size of the audience. Much of the action takes place in the dark, and the spooky atmosphere throughout is skilfully maintained.The audience is then invited to sit down to watch the film. This to me is where the serious problems I had with the production begin. The film follows Victor Stronheim and a cast of largely forgettable and interchangeable characters around as he agonises over a play he has written. Boundaries between the worlds of Stronheim, his characters, the audience in the film and the actual audience are blurred, and Stronheim is forced to stage his play to get out of a predicament whose nature is obfuscated by the frankly tedious goings-on. In some scenes the film appears to taunt the audience with dialogue such as (I'm paraphrasing, from memory) 'How much longer can this possibly go on?' and 'The audience is desperate for this to end'. The film's final scene is played out simultaneously on screen and onstage with the same actors. This is followed by a dance and final theatrical scene, after which the audience is led out of the building.I found the production as a whole unengaging, shallow and the film section overlong. My feeling is that Strange Factories could work as an immersive theatre piece, or as a ten minute art film playing in a gallery, but is too insubstantial for its near three hour running time. My immediate impression was of a company that has become insular and immersed itself too completely in a work. John Harrigan writes, directs and stars, and perhaps this singular vision needs some editorial oversight. An artist creates and has no obligation to cater for a particular, or indeed any audience. However, when the medium is film or theatre, the production is made to be witnessed. To be fair, Strange Factories doesn't appear to be widely publicised and I only heard about it as an existing fan of the Facebook page of Foolish people's previous production, the very enjoyable A Virulent Experience. Perhaps if the film had attempted to develop its characters or had adhered to a more conventional narrative style it might have engaged sufficiently for me to give a fair consideration of its themes. I am sure I was not alone in not getting it, as two other audience members walked out shortly into the film. The immersive theatre was somewhat enjoyable, but it is dragged down by the ponderous film.

Strange Factories is sublimely surreal. A good film experience will skirt the surface of what 'reality' may be which provides the audience a some leeway to allow their own subjectivity and imagination ample room for playtime. An escapist film simply tells the audience what the writer/director thinks 'reality' is. Strange Factories does neither. It challenges the conventional storytelling narrative and allows each individual member of the audience to become a part of the dream-like landscape, a silent watcher drawn into the film without a choice. It allows the audience to fully participate with complete wonder, both during and after the experience. You are left, not only to play with the elements of the story created by the writer/director, but actually questioning the nature of 'reality' itself. And that is it's strength. It is bold and unrelenting. It forces the viewer to think and it does so naturally, though it may feel somewhat jarring as most dreams do. But as with dreams, Strange Factories dredges deeply within standard archetypes to discover and portray their elements in a uniquely magical way. The black and white film format suits Strange Factories perfectly, for the very name of the film format is a misnomer. Work with black and white film long enough and one learns there are no true blacks, nor true whites. This becomes an important factor as the film unfolds.Victor is a storyteller in search of an ending for his story. He encounters an odd settlement populated with people who seem to be expecting him, as well as the audience. He seems confused by this, and so do we. The dialog may also seem confusing at first, but allow your mind to settle into a deeper level, for this is where this film works best. This is nothing superficial. This is The Fool's journey and all that implies.Journey with Victor as he searches for an ending to the story he carries with him, still unfinished, and you may discover you carry within yourself the seed of something within begging to be created. Perhaps still germinating, or once destroyed and begging to be recreated once again.

Review of Strange Factories Live Cinema event at the Cinema Museum, London, UK as published in Londonist (http://londonist.com/2013/10/cinemamuseum.php )Go down a dimly-lit side road to a doorway where you are greeted by silent, masked Chaplinesque characters. They inspect you, and after much furtive gesturing and whispering, you are ushered inside. You are invited to drink a small glass of an oddly viscous liquid, and you might be fortunate enough to peruse some pages from their manuscript — secretly, of course. You are taken to your seats within the red-velvet-curtained theatre, and the show commences.Dark forests, a terrible, unfinished story which develops a strange life of its own, a tormented writer, a mysterious, horrific fire in an old theatre, a tragic clown, a binding contract, a beautiful, yet doomed dancer, sacrifice, Mr Punch, a play within a film, a vast Kafkaesque country estate from which there is no escape. Above it all, the ominous, throbbing hum of the Factory. What is it? Most of all, how does it end? This is what you may discover upon entering the darkened corridors of the London Cinema Museum for FoolishPeople's production of Strange Factories.Immersive theatre pioneers, FoolishPeople have manifested a live cinema production that takes you deep into the heart of a horror film, albeit a surreal one. Their work is a unique alchemy of film, live theatre, artwork and location-specific dance and lighting to create an ambient experience which, in this case, is one of mystery and suspense. The intimate, spooky setting of the Cinema Museum contributes to this state of haunting, with its many antique film cameras, and posters. Look carefully among the exhibits on display, and you might also find some of the artefacts of Stronheim's Settlement and props from the film itself.The film, written and directed by John Harrigan, is a labyrinthine story of madness, and your perceptions of reality start to blur as the evening progresses. What is happening on the screen and around you as the characters from the film come to life? Is it all just the imaginings of Victor, the tormented writer?The suspense is drawn out over the course of the evening, until it reaches a powerful crescendo of drama and dance, immersive theatre at its best. One even begins to suspect fellow audience members of being part of the theatre, particularly as the intimate setting within the Cinema Museum and silent interactions with the characters encourage this. Definitely a performance for the curious and those who wish to explore. Be brave and venture within. Only beware of the machines