Created by One Step At A Time Like This: Suzanne Kersten, Clair Korobacz, Paul Moir & Julian Rickert

An eagerly awaited return to the Fringe, a unique experience in which passers-by become choreographers elements of the experience where the streets and alleys we spend our days erupt as the setting – the city of Edinburgh evokes a narrative which spans miles and decades of time. Traversing fragmented narratives, senses and insights, en route takes audiences on a profoundly personal tale which, while shared with all other audiences, is wholly unique in how it speaks to you.

Timed and orchestrated to perfection, en route benefits from utilising a few bolder techniques than some productions which follow a similar concept. You’ll visit places you’ve never been, find things you’d expect to have long been pinched, hear from strangers turned friends, and even run into a few other surprises in the city’s busiest areas, a truly memorable and exciting aspect.

Wanderers won’t entirely be alone though, as you’ll be accompanied by headphones and a device projecting the ‘meat’ of the show, a recording of music and spoken word that mingles between poetry, history and narrative. The rhythm and pacing work out staggeringly well. You’ll often find that even when taking your time to appreciate the areas you’ll still finish up a sequence just as the next one kicks off.

The addition of striving to use music from Edinburgh-based musicians is a magnificent touch, offering a deeper insight and understanding of Edinburgh through the auditory field as well as the production’s invitations to look. Through inspirational and capturing the soul of the city in its earthiness, even dirtiness as we wander the backstreets of the Grass Market or wander down the marble steps of the Scotsman hotel, the music intrudes on the performance elements, en route requiring a few more segments of spoken word to really connect on a deeper level. It becomes a touch too easy to become lost in thought, but is that necessarily a bad thing?

Treading the streets, we thought we knew, en route serves as a poignant reminder to put away the phone and discover ourselves within the space surrounding us. We, the audience, are as much the ‘star’ of this as any big-name treading the stage – this is our shared story, our experiences, and projects as much outwardly as it does inside. A rare feat in summoning the legacy of theatre around us, it’s likely that the person who takes those headphones off isn’t the same one you started the experience.