If you find theatre too contained and restricted and fancy trying something a bit different then The Quiet Volume could be for you, writes Katherine MacAlister

THE Quiet Volume is about reading, encapsulating the world of books through words, talking, noise, visuals, touch. It’s about our senses and breaking down what reading is into its barest forms.

It makes you think about an art which we learn at an early age and take for granted, something that enriches our lives and our imaginations without us giving it a second thought. It’s about what you are doing now – reading.

And it’s all done through a pair of headphones in Oxford Central Library. Intrigued? I was.

We were first in line for the new Playhouse Plays Out experience, and ready and waiting for our 11.30am slot on the second floor of the library. It’s not an obvious location for a theatrical event, it being quiet an ‘all in there’, but once you’re stuck in, you realise it’s actually the perfect venue because you need to be immersed in books and everything that they represent.

But then that’s the magic of The Quiet Volume, because it’s an entirely personal and intimate journey, and one that you have no knowledge or expectation of.

To set the scene, you and your companion sit side-by-side at a designated desk and, wearing headphones, take cues from words both written and whispered, as you find yourself burrowing an unlikely path through a pile of books.

The whispered words focus you on considering your surroundings, the library, an homage to the written word where everything is quiet. It asks you to listen to the sounds, gets you in the zone, concentrates the mind and helps release you into Ant Hampton and Tim Etchells’ hour-long programme which forces you to think about everything from the act of reading and writing to the magic behind those flat words, the skill in the act itself, the patterns, rhythms and stories involved, the part the reader plays.

It also emphasises how distant and removed we are when reading, as if having an out-of-body experience.

All of this we are forced to consider thanks to the series of whispered instructions being fed through our headphones, using the simple props of a notebook and some chosen texts.

The texts serve to remind you of the vivid nature of books as we are whipped into extracts from three novels whose storylines grab you by the neck and drag you straight under, emphasising the immediacy of the words and reminding us how easy it is to lose ourselves in the novels and their characters.

The Quiet Volume absolutely enthralls from start to finish and takes you off to another place. If I’m not explaining myself very well, it’s only because the experience is so individual and personal it’s hard to compute.

The only solution is to try it out for yourself. You will never forget it if you do.

  • The Quiet Volume runs until October 20 at Oxford Central Library.
  • Call 01865 305305 or go to oxfordplayhouse.com.
  • There are slots from 11.30am to 5.45pm and takes no more than an
    hour. It is for two people.