The Enlighteded - Liam Reese

February, 2023 

PUSH festival at Home Theatre in Manchester this year there was a variety of digital shows which I think showcases an ongoing trend of increasing digital incorporation into performance. Often festivals are beginning to have separate categories for digital shows. PUSH was really pioneering it this year even showcasing workshops alongside some live digital and even some purely inline digital shows. 

As part of PUSH I managed to catch The Enlightened, a recent production by Liam Rees. The show caught my attention as I hadn't seen a show before incorporating not only digital technologies but also the use of social media interactivity throughout the show. I think as proof of concept it was an interesting starting point but it definitely had areas that need further refining before it would feel like a seamless technological play. The primary technology used throughout was projection mapping onto a variety of surfaces around the space. Mostly this was pulled off well but occasionally the mapping was quite off and it was difficult to forgive as the shapes being mapped were relatively simple. The use of live zoom throughout was really interesting allowing the use of actors on stage who weren't there, however it did make the show feel very static as there can't be a lot of movement when everyone is on a zoom call for half of the show.

There were also occasional teething issues with the zoom as is to be expected, occasionally cutting out or lagging which lead to the onstage cast being left slightly in the lurch as they were unlikely to know when the issue would be fixed. I think these issues are always inherent with digital technology unless you have the funding and infrastructure to create an incredibly high feed reliability. One of the parts I was most intrigued by was the use of an interactive WhatsApp group chat throughout with the audience members able to add themselves. I think this was an interesting concept but felt underused, it would have been interesting if it had been projected too or at least influenced the show in some way rather than just a place for a bit of a chat which is what it felt like.  I understand though that it's hard to balance as it can't be too heavily part of the show if you don't want it to be compulsory for all audience to join. 

Overall with a lot of smaller scale production companies beginning to utilise digital technology in more inventive ways there will be elements to work through but it doesn't take away from the imaginative way they have chosen to use different technology and also the incredible use of international actors without needing to transport anyone to the venue. There are barriers as audiences are becoming used to incredibly high production values in large scale performances and this can be a set back when you are starting out developing these ideas so I think they stood up well as newer digital artists in the field on a smaller budget.