26 Oct 2013 5:00pm - 7:00pm SG1, Alison Richard Building

Description

This event is the result of an exciting collaboration between Watford Palace Theatre and CRASSH on the AHRC funded Digital Bridges project. 

Watford Theatre commissioned three playwrights to write about the role of digital technologies in modern society. Their three plays ‘Override’ by Stacey Gregg; ‘Perfect Match’ by Gary Owen; and ‘Virgin’ by EV Crowe explore human augmentation, digital identity, data mining, online privacy, and social networking. At CRASSH, project leader Dr Jenna Ng, postdoctoral research fellow Dr Anna Troisi and ‘Override's’ playwright, Stacey Gregg, collaborated to create a online multimedia installation to enable theatre audiences to engage creatively with the play.

As part of the project Dr Kathleen Richardson is chairing events in Cambridge and Watford to spark discussion on issues involved in digital media use, particularly the ways people configure their sense of selves and their social relations through using digital media.

This unique event, including a play reading (from Stacey Gregg's Override – see below for synopsis) and demonstration of the multimedia installation, asks the question:

Are we having a collective out of body experience the more we mediate our lives with new technologies?

Is technology changing our attitudes to love, friendship, personal autonomy and sense of self and what are the consequences of relating via online networks?

The event will be chaired by Kathleen Richardson (anthropologist of robots) and the speakers will include Stacey Gregg (playwright), Marcia Karp (psychodramatic therapist) and Adam Wood (StoptheCyborgs, campaign group against googleglasses).

Our speakers will consider the intersection of ‘embodied’ theatre space, that of living, breathing and present performative exchanges, with the ‘disembodied’ virtual space and think about the consequences, hopes and possibilities of these new technologies in changing the meaning of everyday experience.

The event will conclude with a wine reception, a live running of the new installation and a reading from Stacey Gregg’s play – Override! 

Please follow this link for additional information on the Ideal Season at Watford Palace Theatre:

Watford Palace Theatre – Ideal World Season (September – October 2013)

 

Extracts from Override by Stacey Gregg

Reading by Tamsin Astbury and Neil Shailer
Produced by Tamsin Astbury

As each day passes, it is becoming increasingly normal to use technology to erase imperfection and disabilities.

Far from the city, one young couple are retreating from human augmentation, going back to basics, and looking forward to the natural birth of their first baby. But one of them has a secret that threatens to undermine their perfect world.

A captivating, darkly comic play that questions what it means to be human by Creative Associate at Watford Palace Theatre Stacey Gregg (writing includes Channel 4, National).

For ages 16+ (Contains adult content)

CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN THE ARTS, SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

Tel: +44 1223 766886
Email enquiries@crassh.cam.ac.uk