Find my blog posts for my reflections on mixed-media theatre here.
Find the livestream from this project here.
Using my digital knowledge and interest, I fully immersed myself into this module on my drama and theatre degree. Each and every assignment we did, I learned something new or deepened my understanding of an already known skill I had. Also deepening my knowledge of the history side of technology and its interlinking’s with theatre, it was really fascinating to see how professionals, and people I look up to have, used technology to create masterful and immersive pieces of theatre.
Creating pieces such as audio walks and multi-media walks, I found myself using a passion of mine in a productive way and using my technical skills to help my group bring our ideas into fruition. With each project I was part of in this module, I was the one in my group to be on call for anything technical and technology based, this is something I found helpful for myself because as I was teaching my peers I was also learning imperative skills myself for not only teaching but also in directing and editing aspects when it came down to the technical side of things. Working with my peers in this module only enforced my passion for the technical side of drama and storytelling be it in many forms.
Our main project in this module was a multi-media game of cat and mouse between a band livestreaming their down time in York and a journalist wanting pictures of them to sell to the media. We wanted to comment upon how easy it is to fall into the traps of social media and oversharing on these popular platforms. From their livestream on Facebook and their many Instagram stories, it was easy for people to find them wherever they might be in York and snap photos of the band. As an interactive performance, the audience become the paparazzi and are allowed to choose whether to stay at the journalist’s headquarters or embark on a hunt for the band throughout the city centre of York.
Creating this project was a very enjoyable experience and having the audience enjoy it was a great success for us. But deeper than that, it was great to use technology and performance to question our uses of social media and leave the audience member/player questioning their own online presence. This was a project I enjoyed immensely and feel proud to have been a part of.
An excerpt from my blog post that reflected on the project explains my reasoning for creating the piece and the thought behind wanting to make the piece interactive:
‘Wanting to delve further into the connection between humans and technology and how we, as a race, use and depend on it, I wanted to use the one technology that tries to connect us all together every day: social media. Now that the majority of the population has a profile on at least one social media platform, presenting their ideal way they want to be perceived by the world, this is creating a mismatch world where the lines are blurred between the real and the virtual; creating a false sense of certainty and actuality that comes along with the real and the fabricated truth.’
