OBSERVER: Crisis Actor
In Crisis Actor, audiences do more than just watch – they use their phones to help shape the outcome of a dark and playful performance that blends silliness with solemnity.
Premiering at Arts House in partnership with Now or Never, Crisis Actor is part surrealist comedy, part live-action video game and will be presented from August 27-31 at Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall.
Set inside the speculative Crisis Haus, a hyper-mediated reality TV studio on the brink of collapse, two actors compete for the audience’s empathy. Using motion-capture technology, their performances unfold simultaneously in-person and as live 3D avatars.
In a novel take on second-screen theatre, the audience remains on their phones throughout the experience, engaging with a mobile website in real-time.
Through live chat, prompts and voting, they actively influence the direction of the show. There are two possible endings, but there is only one winner.
‘Crisis actor’ is a loaded term. Once used for actors playing victims in emergency simulations, it has since been co-opted by conspiracy theorists to deny real-world tragedies.
In this speculative performance, the term morphs into a lens to examine how suffering is performed, mediated and commodified in the attention economy.
Produced by Performing Lines, this concept was the creative spark for writer-director Vidya Rajan, digital artist Sam Mcgilp and dramaturg Andrew Sutherland, who ask: In a world where attention is currency, what kind of pain gets rewarded?
“Crisis Actor is like playing a video game with real people. It draws from reality shows and live gaming formats, but bends them into something darker and more surreal,” says Rajan.
Blending theatre, motion-capture and game design, Crisis Actor is a sharp satire on simulation culture and the gamification of our attention and empathy. This is a world where catastrophe is content, memory is a competition, suffering is a vibe and resilience is celebrity
Performance Season: August 27 – 31 7.30pm Wed – Fri 1pm and 7.30pm Sat 5pm Sun
Venue: Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall, 521 Queensberry St., North Melbourne
Duration: 60-75 minutes, no interval
Tickets: $40/$25/$15
Bookings: arrtshouse.com.au 9322 3720
Cheryl Threadgold