A violin sits centre stage under a spotlight as an ethereal soundscape fills the room from the many speakers which surround the playing space. This violin, and the musician who wields it, are asking you to listen to the stories they’re about to tell in their own ways. Leslie Ting’s What Brings You In tracks her journey with therapy and her mental health through pieces of music. Intimate and interactive, What Brings You In is an intriguing experience.

Leslie Ting was an optometrist, but after six years of schooling and a couple of years of working in the field, she found herself lacking the satisfaction she thought the profession would bring. As she turned back to her first passion, the violin, she also went to see her first therapist. With each new life landmark, and therapist to help her through it, Ting and percussionist Germaine Liu, perform songs which embody the feelings and themes of Ting’s stories. In a beautiful blend of technology, music, and storytelling Ting is able to connect the audience through our shared experiences.

Ting incorporates a great deal of audience participation into What Brings You In. The play begins with her playing a movement of “Dirt Road” from pages of music which are being held by audience members, while Liu is playing the xylophone at the back of the audience area. The audience is brought in on the experience several more times, being invited to lie down with Ting as she recounts a reiki session she once had, and even using our phones to participate along with the online audience. Like a therapy session, the audience is asked to quietly participate, to actively listen and feel a part of the journey with Ting. While I wish that more of the production could have been as interactive as the bit where we used our phones to help make the music, what is there is makes for a unique experience with every viewing.

Another way in which technology is integrated into the show is through the music. The best example is the amazing sand box which is situated over a synthesizer so that as the sand is moved around and dropped onto the surface of the box, sounds are created and manipulated. It’s an astounding feat and makes for an exciting centre piece to the show. I also really enjoyed the idea of the speaker representing the Black Box of the Mind – though that piece is rather long, it deftly imitates the feeling of noisy and unruly thoughts.

Both Ting and Liu dazzle us musically, letting their improvisational explorations come to life on stage. I love how percussionists like Liu consistently find new ways to make sounds with their instruments and various other objects. Ting plays her violin beautifully, and though she talks in the show about missing notes or not playing the pieces perfectly, you’d never know from watching her perform. She’s also an engaging storyteller; I actually wish there was a bit more about her life and her story within What Brings You In, as I was feeling a deep connection with her, but felt like she could have gone further.

What Brings You In is a unique mode of storytelling which brings the inner workings of its creator to life. Let the powerful music and grounded stories bring you into yourself…who knows what, or who, you’ll discover.

What Brings You In runs at Theatre Passe Muraille until October 25 both online and in person. For more information and tickets, visit: https://www.passemuraille.ca/what-brings-you-in/

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Cover Photo: Germaine Liu and Leslie Ting. Photo by Jae Yang.

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