Past, Presents and Futures of Digitally-Mediated Theatre

The topic I propose to investigate is internet-based mediatised performance. Mediatised performance is a work of performance shown or mediated via a visual medium, usually a technological medium such as a screen. The aim of my project is to determine the extent to which the formal innovations of online platforms affect the meaning and impact of certain performances, whether they were previously staged or created specifically for these platforms. My research will draw upon case studies from the Edinburgh-based Traverse Theatre, an organisation that has devised numerous productions of this type. By examining the role of digital platforms in the production, presentation and distribution of various Traverse shows, I aim to explore how much continuity exists between the theatre's productions and older forms of mediatised performance, and the opportunities digital technology offers to change the way theatre is created and how audiences engage with theatre.My research will draw upon works by Auslander, who has written extensively on the evolution of mediatised performance until the 1990s in publications such as Liveness. My work will also incorporate Phelan's work on co-presence between audiences and spectators in a digitised setting, as this is a prime feature of online performance. Other works examining the integration of digital technology into performance will also be highly useful, such as Aebischer's work on screen technology in staged Shakespeare productions. My research will also contain many interdisciplinary elements, drawing upon work such as McNaughton's examination of camerawork in British televised dramas. Particular academic areas that can also be explored in my topic include labour in performance. The work of Boyle and Essin will be highly useful in that regard, the latter of whom has documented plays' production histories from the perspective of backstage workers. I intend to document the production of certain Traverse shows in a similar manner by examining crew members' work and how their digital creative output engaged audiences. By applying scholars' ideas to the production of online performance, useful insights will emerge in relation to how digital projects correlate with staged and mediatised productions from decades prior.
I will seek to answer how theatres such as Traverse have used digital technology in conjunction with dramaturgical processes such as scriptwriting and set designing to resonate with audiences in a new, innovative manner. Determining the ways in which Traverse has devised productions using digital platforms will highlight the extent to which this technology can interweave audiences' in-person experiences with digital narratives, ultimately to develop experiences that are thematically effective for audiences.
I also aim to clarify the extent to which digital productions are more accessible to audiences than conventional theatre, and how digital technology may facilitate this accessibility. In doing so, my research will examine how this accessibility may encourage audiences to create works of theatre themselves, and if digital technology can expose the production process behind projects in an equally accessible manner to provide examples for aspiring theatremakers.In addition, I will explore is the extent to which Traverse's online productions correlate with scholarly writings on mediatised performance.By highlighting continuities between mediatised projects from the mid-to-late Twentieth Century and Traverse's present-day productions, my research will highlight how digital technology has opened new avenues to involve audiences in viewing and creating theatre. In determining the continuities and differences between Traverse's online works and older forms of mediatised performance, my research will highlight that traditional notions of performance may be less relevant in the digital age as theatres such as Traverse have used the internet to enhance artistic creation and audience engagement.