'OUTWITH' – BEDWYR WILLIAMS

REVIEWED BY RHYS FULLERTON 

Outwith by Welsh artist Bedwyr Williams is the second in the Observers' Walks series. Performed by Hilary Lyon, the audio guide takes the listener through a series of stories set in a local hotel which is visible from Calton Hill. 

At the start, we are instructed to walk down the hill and sit on a bench. From there we are imaginatively transported from Calton Hill to the rooftop garden opposite, to a rooftop garden in Tokyo, and then back to the Glasshouse Hotel.

Next we are instructed to adjust our posture and before you know it your brain has left your body and landed on the hotel’s rooftop garden. From there we begin to meet some of the hotel guests. We find two sisters sharing a spacious suite, we then hear a little anecdote about what the cleaners once found in a room, and we meet a tall gentleman who’s in Edinburgh on business. We are introduced to an angry glamour model, a florist’s assistant, a marathon runner who wished he’d booked a cheaper hotel and his son who finds something unexpected on the rooftop garden.

It’s all very peculiar and wouldn’t be out of place as a performance piece in the Fringe, but there is something alluring about it. The stories are very well told; the hotel guests and the rooms are brought to life, and it becomes very clear and visible in your imagination. There is so much detail in the narration that the characters arrive fully formed and to say much more about it here would ruin the enjoyment.

I found myself peering closer to get a better view of the hotel, as if I might catch a glimpse of one of the guests. I wanted to be able to see them and watch them like a theatre piece. But they don’t exist. That’s what makes this piece so curious. 

If there is a negative it would be that the story comes to an end too soon. It’s as if Bedwyr Williams is saying that this is art and not a nice piece of theatre, so don’t make yourself too comfortable. 

At one point the narrator says, ‘It was a nice story, well told’, referring to something she once heard. Outwith can't be described as ‘nice’, but it is very well told and thoroughly enjoyable. If you have a spare 20 minutes or so, why not give it a go?

The audio work and map can be downloaded from the Collective website or borrowed from the gallery.