{THEATRE} Digital Media
LIVE and KICKING Digital media is being embraced by theatre companies at this year’s Fringe, but is this a passing fad or a great way for theatre to keep in step with modern technology? Lauren Mayberry investigates
L A V I T S E F
S ometimes it feels like we live in an episode of Tomorrow’s World. We have tablet computers and countless varieties of smart phones; the big wigs ponder whether to dole out Academy Awards for films about game-changing websites which didn’t even exist decade prior to this and we get oddly excited about Google+ and changes to Facebook Chat.
It is fitting, then, that technology and new media are prevalent themes at this year’s Fringe. You Wouldn’t Know Him, He Lives in Texas, for instance, is a forward- thinking play by Look Left Look Right productions, following a couple conducting a long-term, long-distance relationship via Skype. Artistic director Mimi Poskitt explains the premise: ‘The show is not only about making work that uses new media in new ways but also about relationships between people. It really touches on a lot of the work that is happening in the transmedia world.’
Poskitt, a previous Fringe First winner, works in partnership with Beth Burns at the Hidden Room
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theatre company in Texas to produce a show of two halves conducted across Skype. On the US side of the screen, audiences will experience the play from Ryan’s point of view, watching him chat to his girlfriend, Elizabeth, who lives in Edinburgh, and Fringe attendees will see things from Elizabeth’s point of view.
Once people get a ticket for the show, they are sent an email from the character of Elizabeth, as if they are a friend she has invited round to ‘meet’ Ryan over Skype, and also receive a Facebook friend invitation. The team also streams the show to a third venue – the online community – inviting people to communicate with the actors via a live feed. to use Twitter
Poskitt and Burns are pleased with how rehearsals have gone so far (all, of course, conducted over Skype) and are confident that the play(s) will be as successful in Edinburgh as when they were staged in London/Texas earlier this year. ‘The response has been amazing. There is scope for reaching a
‘YOU CAN USE TECHNOLOGY TO DELIVER LIVE THEATRE RIGHT INTO SOMEONE’S HOUSE’
wider audience online than you ever could live,’ says Poskitt, arguing that You Wouldn’t Know Him/Her is about as interactive as theatre can get. ‘We did a panel at SXSW this year about how we can use new media to connect to audiences and other theatre groups and how you
can use technology to deliver live theatre right into someone’s house.’
a mini-festival Closer to home, we have (g)Host City, of downloadable, site-specific performances by artists, writers and performers such as Momus, Alan Bissett, Jim Colquhoun,