The Shard Part II The Sequel? Not At All

The Fire Garden at Inside Out (part of National Theatre), was a brilliantly blazing spectacle that did a magnificent job combining the visual with the aural. World Famous did a fabulous job placing the flames so that they would interact with the wind to create the illusion of a river of fire. Some sceptics may think that the illusion was merely coincidence, but upon closer examination of the the accompanying soundtrack there is no other conclusion than that it was well crafted with intent. Created by Thor McIntyre of Aswarm, the opening aural accompaniment consists of a poem eerily recited to music wherein the Thames is mentioned as a river of fire and of suicide. The poem further continues to talk about light upon the water as the wind whips the flames into a frenzy. Creating a spectacle that is powerful to behold.

The spectacle continues as there is a walkway that the public can use to walk through the sea of flames to immerse themselves in the fire. In this way the audience becomes the spectacle as people start to watch the reactions of others as they make their way through the Fire Garden. Others who do not wish to become the spectacle still stay along the fringes watching the crowds move among the flames and comment on how it looks. One man was complaining that the people with cameras were holding up the queue whenever they stopped to take pictures. By participating in the walk, I subjected myself to such scruitiny, but took pictures anyway. It was worth it.