If theatre is on the march, at the Fierce festival in Birmingham it has a skip in its step. A great deal of the work in this festival - now in its 10th year - is small, but it asks big questions about the nature of theatre and its relationship with audiences. I sat in an old Routemaster bus in Victoria Square while a ballet was performed almost in my lap. Previously I'd found myself backstage at Birmingham Hippodrome where the conceit was that I had been drafted in as a last-minute replacement for a dresser helping an actor prepare. The Dresser is an intimate, 10-minute one-to-one encounter in which you, the audience, put on the biggest performance.
For Only a Phone Call Away, you don't have to be in the same room or even the same city, as the performance comes down your phone, in a daily three-minute eavesdrop. In Blast Theory's Day of the Figurines, you select a model in Wolverhampton Art Gallery and create a persona for it; then, your figurine (a child in my case) is placed on a board that represents a postindustrial city. You receive and send text messages that allow you to manipulate your avatar on the board remotely within an ongoing scenario that lasts 24 days, each day representing an hour in the town's life. Currently, I'm having a bad time in a cemetery, and frankly I want to get on the train to Wolverhampton and rescue my child, even though I know this cross between Second Life and Monopoly isn't real.
Finally, The Cleansing of Constance Brown is a slippery new piece by Stan's Cafe that takes place in corridors of history haunted by the eponymous lady, who pops up and down the centuries like some kind of Everywoman. This slick, intriguing show is heading for Edinburgh this summer, by which time it should be unmissable.
· Until June 11. Details: fiercetv.co.uk
