In fact, after 1 click, you're right in. The latest project from New Paradise Laboratories (NPL) from Philadelphia (USA) takes the internet experience to a new level. The creators don't just do anything with a website, they create a virtual existence, which they sustain for at least a year. In their latest project Extremely Public Displays of Privacy also happens on a stage floor, but the real artwork takes place on facebook and chatroulette.
That you have to pull your audience into your story and keep them on their toes, every artist knows. That as a theatre group these days, you also sth. with the internet and with social media, we also know. So we see many shows and groups with a website, a few facebook and twitter accounts around characters, fictional or otherwise. But so far, the results are often a bit doltish, to say the least. It has apparently not yet dawned on the Dutch theatre and TV world that the new web standard HTML5 offers unprecedented opportunities to actually involve the audience in a story.
Simply by adopting its browser. As a start. And then the rest will follow.
Gaming, art and theatre thus intertwine in NPL's work in a way rarely seen elsewhere. This is beyond the website, and the dutiful youtube trailer can also go into the virtual dustbin. Welcome to a world where nerds and artists truly come together to create something new.
Our question: where is the answer from the once innovative Dutch theatre? Or do you already know examples that are at least as 'immersive' are like this? Let us know in the comments.
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