Political Cyberformance The Etheatre Project [Hardcover]

Written from a practice-based perspective, this book focuses on the political character of 'cyberformance': the genre of digital performance that uses the Internet as a performance space. The Etheatre Project comprises a series of experimental cyberformances aiming to reconsider the characteristics of theatre in the Internet age.

Political Cyberformance: The Etheatre Project examines the use of Internet platforms as theatrical, rehearsal and performance spaces and explores the interactive and political potentials of online theatre, questioning the boundaries of these in-between spaces and the spatial experiences they cause. In a political cyberformance, the role of the director is to promote real-time discussion between the audience and the performers via a chat box and assist the active participation of spectators in the performance. In particular, I look at forms of cyber-adaptation, cyber-ethnotheatre and cyber-collaboration as directing methodologies for producing dialectical forms of political cyberformances, with reference to the productions of Cyberian Chalk Circle (2011), Merry Crisis and a Happy New Fear (2012) and Etheatre Project and Collaborators (2014), respectively.

1. A Short Organum for Cyberformance

2. Towards an Online Community-Engaging and Participatory Theatre

3. The Etheatre Project

Conclusion

Bibliography

List of websites

Index

This is the first monograph to consider the political potential of online performance, offering a valuable discussion of direct audience engagement and active participation strategies employed in political practices of cyberformance. The volume is highly recommended for practitioners in theatre and media alike, as well as students and scholars engaged in Practice as Research. - Maria Chatzichristodoulou, London South Bank University, UK 
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