ONLY five years into the future, quantum computers have created algorithms which are capable of predicting everything that happens in everyone’s lives.

These predictions have now been turned into a valuable commodity on the black market.

The Rise And Fall Of Geo Goynes by Brighton-based interactive theatre company Root Experience is a combination of theatre and gameplay which sees actors and the audience combine in an attempt to break out from predictive behaviour, or play with those predictions in the streets and alleyways around The Old Market.

It grew from a trial event, The Game Project, which was part of the Brighton Fringe in May.

“It was a totally random suggestion that led us to think why we hadn’t done anything with gameplay before,” says artistic director Simon Magnus.

“The Game Project was about exploring how digital technology could be used in a piece of theatre. Mobile technology seemed the best way of keeping people linked together. We had adults running around the North Laine trying to shoot each other following a loose narrative.

“Geo Goynes is a way of bringing it all together with a stronger narrative, using a lot of the technologies we discovered in The Game Project. You feel totally immersed in the story, as it happens around you, and you have control over it too.”

While developing Geo Goynes, Root Experience explored how much freedom an audience could have in the confines of a theatrical piece.

“We discovered the more freedom you have the more it is like a game and the less it is about theatre and narrative storytelling,” says Magnus.

“We have been careful to keep people involved, and make sure there is no choice that puts you out of the game – the story puts you right back in, and every person has a relevant role.”

Changes from its origins in The Game Project include drastically cutting down the amount of running around, and removing the smartphones which were originally at the centre of the action.

“We realised not everyone has them,” says Magnus. “The problem with smartphones is people were spending more time looking at the screen. This piece happens with the streets as a backdrop, and if you’re looking at a smartphone screen you don’t notice what is happening around you.”

Instead, the audience will be given “old-fashioned” non-touch-screen phones and a bluetooth headset to respond and interact with each other in conference calls and listen to the soundtrack which runs through the piece.

Geo Goynes, which has been developed from musician and actor Catherine Ireton’s original story for The Game Project, features a cast of three performers, augmented by volunteers drawn from around the location.

“We’ve got shops and homes involved,” says Magnus. “There are homeowners who will be letting participants into their houses. We have built into it that members of the general public have a role to play – at least in the heads of the people who are playing.”

After it supported Root Experience in the development stages, the location has been shifted from the more familiar North Laine to around The Old Market on the border with Brighton and Hove.

“The streets around The Old Market are great because there are lots of little alleys and dead ends which are fun to play with,” says Magnus.

The piece was also supported by the Arts Council, and a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign which earned the project 150 backers from 3,000 people watching the initial video.

At the centre of The Rise And Fall Of Geo Goynes is the digital world Root Experience is now exploring.

“This is a whole new world, both thematically and structurally,” says Magnus, who admits his experience of computer games ended with Super Mario 3 on his old Nintendo.

“I have always liked the fact this company has created work that has come from where we are right now. Everything has an interactive and transformative experience – the premise of the company is a human interacting with another human.”

Feeding into the piece are the interactive computer games he has been shown by his friends, and what he heard at Brighton Digital Festival’s Improving Reality Conference earlier this month.

“The things that are being done blew my mind,” he says. “There’s a strange app that freaks the hell out of me, which is in the background of your phone and takes in everything you do – it stays constantly running, and the amount of data it collects on you and everyone else means it can make accurate predictions about the lives we are living, and the people you might run into. “It’s something worth playing with and questioning – and theatre is a good place to question it.”

The Rise Of Geo Goynes is also being taken to York in October, and Magnus hopes it will return to Brighton next year, perhaps to link in with the May Festival and Fringe.

“We have a few ideas for our next shows, but we are going to see what happens with this and what it leads on to,” says Magnus.

“Getting people out there and experiencing it is the most important thing.”

Performances take place at 1.30pm, 3pm, 4.30pm and 6pm at The Old Market, Upper Market Street, Hove, on Saturday, September 28, and Sunday, September 29, tickets £8. Call 01273 201800.

See below for Brighton Digital Festival event details: