Theater in the Digital Space: Showcasing Alienation for the first time

Linz. With “Alienation”, the Landestheater’s young theater department presents a play about feeling unwilling to conform to norm and longing for a place where one feels at home. However, the game is not played on the well-known wooden boards, rather it is played directly on the Internet. The play, based on an unpublished novel by Corinna Antelman, was conceived as a purely online format with interactivity potential. Premiere: January 17th.

Utopia and reality, digital vitality and everyday life, one’s own needs and expectations of others – Corina Antelman’s text tells of feeling unwilling to conform to a standard and yearning for a place where one can feel at home. Alienation is about a lot: maturity, gender norms, the blessings and pitfalls of the internet, and in the end, just wanting a young man searching for himself.

Antelmann’s work template is about Nicola or Nico (played directly by Isabella Campestrini), “It’s about a girl who’s trying to locate herself, can’t find a place, can’t find her way with a role model, is looking for something and always faces pitfalls of resistance,” says Nellie Netzky. , Head of the Youth Theater Department, who also manages: The pandemic has given rise to the idea of ​​editing the novel in such a way that it can be shown for the first time on the Internet.

‘We won a stage for her’

“This is not a production intended for wood theater, but in fact intended exclusively for the digital space. We are constantly trying to research what is still possible in this room, how those formats might be and how we can work with them – to move away from the cinematic experience towards interaction,” says Netzky, which thanks Antelmann for this, with her account about that way to deal with it. “Beyond the epidemic, these are the forms we will continue, we have gained a stage.”

The writer herself is also happy, “I’m so grateful for this release, it’s great to be able to see it online now, which makes the girl feel more lonely,” says Antelman, who thinks this topic in particular is very good for such a format that fits staging .

FH students developed a virtual world

The play is also part of the European project PlayOn! , which deals with digitization in the field of theater for young audiences. Students Nils Galist and Manuel Lattner then developed and programmed the virtual worlds of the play through collaboration with the Upper Austrian University of Applied Sciences, Hagenberg site.

Regardless, the piece takes place in a reconstructed attic “in which many people have left their mark. You can find little things around every corner,” says manufacturer Karin Waltenberger.

In addition to the live camera image, the recorded mobile phone videos capture the protagonist’s environment, and the chat is triggered. “It makes sense to watch the piece on a PC screen, or in the classroom on a promotional projector, with a smartphone you’re reaching your limits,” they advise.

Viewers decide

With a web app, viewers can also help determine the direction in which the virtual world should develop. Feedback can also be sent. Follow-up talks are also offered for classes, eg.

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“Aliation”, based on the unpublished novel by Corinna Antelmann – 13 years old, Duration: about 75 minutes, World premiere: Monday, January 17, 11 a.m., on Landestheater-Netzbühne. Information, dates and tickets: www.landestheater-linz.at/netzbuehne