Aidan Moffat and Found bring interactive show #Unravel to Edinburgh Fringe

Show combining music and narrative reacts to heckles from audience via phone

When #Unravel debuted at the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art earlier this year, it was as an ambitious installation piece, a machine which would tell stories based on its narrator’s favourite pieces of music, and how these stories developed would depend on environmental factors such as the weather that day or the public reaction to #Unravel on Twitter. ‘It was about the reliability of memory, and how retelling events affects the way you remember them,’ says Tommy Perman, of Edinburgh art-rock group FOUND, who built #Unravel and programmed the instruments it played alongside recorded narration from Aidan Moffat, formerly of Arab Strap.

This month the Edinburgh Festival will experience the live debut of #Unravel, with FOUND playing the robotic instruments themselves and Moffat reading his stories live. The twist is that the audience can tweet their reaction anonymously to an onstage screen, which will affect the version of the story Moffat tells. ‘If they say nice things he should tell it in a confident way, and vice versa,’ laughs Perman, who reveals tentative plans for a tour and an app based around the project. ‘It’s like being given a thumbs-up to heckle, but we hope people buy into the playful aspect of it. Aidan’s got a pretty thick skin though, I’ve seen him antagonise plenty of audiences himself.’

Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Wed 15 Aug.