Dear Mal / All

I am most interested in your question as to whether placing your play online
constitutes a world first! I'd just like to make a few observations and ask
a couple of questions. 

Here at the Digital Performance Archive, an AHRB funded project at the
Universities of Nottingham Trent and Salford we are of course always
interested in these types of question and we often have questions of our
own! For those of you who don't know about us the Archive collects
information on digital resources *on* performance and digital resources *in*
performance. The project therefore spans a vast range of information, from
websites documenting performance through to practioners using digital media
in live performance. You can find us at http://art.ntu.ac.uk/dpa

But to answer your question I have to ask you what you mean by the term
'online theatre' and 'online'? I assume that when you are talking about
'online theatre' you are talking about, in your very specific instance, a
'play' which is performed 'online', i.e. over the Internet/Web. I also
assume that when you say that it will be placed 'online' what you mean is
that it will be delivered over the Internet/Web as a piece of streamed video
which has been pre-recorded at one of your live performances? In this case
the Internet/Web becomes an alternative delivery mechanism that allows a
work to have a different life/audience after the event. 

If both of these are correct assumptions (and they may not be) then you may
have a world first? Perhaps others could point us in the right direction if
they know of other examples of this type? 

But there are many examples of the use of the Internet as a medium for
performance of many different types (i.e. not restricted to 'plays'). If my
assumptions are wrong and you are intending to perform your work live and
stream it at the same time, then this wouldn't be a first. For instance you
might like to check out the website
http://www.media.salford.ac.uk/chameleons3 which concerns the work Net
Congestion that, whilst iperformed in a 'real' space, was only available to
an audience as a live webcast. 

One of the many examples of different types of webcast that I often quote is
Franklin Furnace, an organisation in New York who have 'deinstitutionalized'
themselves. By this they mean that they webcast everything and have no real
'home'. They webcast everything from performance art, through to media art
works through to dance/technology pieces. (no 'plays' as such!).
http://www.franklinfurnace.org

Then there are the examples which use the durational and interactive
qualities of the Internet. There have been soaps on the web to which you
could tune in everyday for a new installment. Perhaps one of the first was
called Fatal Beauty. Anyone know anything else about this? The website I had
listed has disappeared. These soaps have developed to take advantage of the
audience feedback which is possible via the web. Recently I was listening to
Front Row on Radio 4 and someone was being interviewed about an
'interactive' film to be shown on the web called Running Time in which the
audience were given choices about what they thought should happen next.
Anyone know anything more about this? Of course these two works and others
have probably been responsible for that soap to end all soaps, 'Big
Brother'!

The other avenue of interest in this area may be the 'plays' performed in
MUDs and MOOs (text based networked environments). There have been quite a
few of these and many of them have been performed in the MOO named ATHEMOO
which you can find out about at 
http://moo.hawaii.edu/athemoo/ The site explains how it works better than I
do. 

As a final note as this mail is long, readers may be interested in the book
'Theatre in Cyberspace: Issues of Teaching, Acting and Directing' edited by
Stephen A. Schrum, published by Peter Lang in 1999. Available for a very
reasonable price on Amazon!   

So, the range of work is diverse and all gets a bit confused around terms
like 'online', 'theatre', 'plays', 'performance' etc. Not everyone uses the
same words for the same reasons and it is there that searches on the
Internet for instance fall down.

But can anyone help me with my questions?!

best wishes

Rachael Beach

The    D i g i t a l   P e r f o r m a n c e   A r c h i v e 

Rachael Beach 
Research Fellow 
Digital Performance Archive 
Victoria Studios 
The Nottingham Trent University 
Burton Street 
Nottingham 
NG1 4BU 
United Kingdom 

email:  [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> 
-----Original Message-----
From: Mal Williamson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2000 9:47 AM
To: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask];
[log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask];
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Subject: The Love Code


Hello, 

apologies for cross-posting!  

You may be interested in a Whole New Theatre production at The  
King`s Head, Islington on 24th & 25th September, 8pm, £6. 

The play - "a metaphysical spy thriller" - uses the language model 
of neuro-linguistic programming which admittedly looks strange on 
paper but works very effectively and traditionally under direction.  
After workshopping the play in `91 Soho Theatre said that their four-
week rehearsal period was not enough for the actors to get to grips 
with the play and they decided not to take it on.

The Love Code was runner-up in the Verity Bargate Award for new  
writing in 1990/91 when 2 of the judges said it wasn`t a play at all!   
Perhaps they were right - it`s now a musical with original jazz 
ballads and swing numbers to accompany the themes of love, 
work, humanity, philosophy. 

Paines Plough Theatre said at the time "It`s like watching Beckett  
for the first time - there`s something great going on but we don`t  
know what it is!"  The songs set the mood firmly in sophisticated 
romance and good times so the combination is set to give an 
intriguing and enthralling show.  

We premiere at the Beverley Jazz Festival 21st & 22nd then have 
the 2 nights in London before returning to Wordquake East 
Yorkshire Literature Festival on the 29th September.

Then the whole show goes online for perhaps a world first!?!  If you 
know different I`d be pleased to hear about it.  We've have been 
unable to find online theatre although we're sure it must exist. 

Please come see and hear for yourself the inaugural show with 
professional cast from TV, theatre and the jazz scene!   

http://www.thelovecode.com 


Mal Williamson
Lecturer
Media Technology
University of Lincolnshire & Humberside
Tel 01482 463376 



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