As digital design inscribes its own narrative from the outset of the rehearsal process, 21st century theatre artists and audiences are becoming more and more accustomed to porous dramaturgies, influenced by information technologies and digital articulations. Associate Professor Avra Sidiropoulou (MA in Theatre Studies, Open University) will deliver a keynote talk in the Department of Drama & Theatre Arts Research Seminar Series of the University of Birmingham on February 8th, 2023 (16:30 GMT).

The title of her talk is: «Working with Digital Media in the Theatre. A Director’s Account». Dr Sidiropoulou will explore the use of technology in contemporary performance from within the rehearsal room, interrogating the diverse functions of the multimedia element by touching on several theoretical and practice-related issues: how has technology affected performance both in terms of creative strategies and audience experience? What are some of the pleasures and dangers involved in the omni-presence of the media in today’s theatre landscape? How has digital articulation enhanced, ironized or redefined structure and characterisation? Under what conditions can the encounter of corporeal presence with an electronically interceded image provide meaningful experiences for the audience? Bringing in examples from different multimedia productions that she had directed, Dr Sidiropoulou will focus on the principles of compositional dramaturgy, where the philosophy that structures the mise-en-scene draws from the visual as well as ontological collision between the live and the mediated.