TO BE A MACHINE (VERSION 2.0)

By Dead Centre and Mark O’Connell

“The defining quality of the metaverse will be a feeling of presence —

like you are right there with another person”

Mark Zuckerberg

What’s wrong with reality? Why do we feel the need to escape it?

From its very beginning theatre has offered audiences a chance to escape the world and enter a new one. The phrase “virtual reality” was first used by a playwright, Antonin Artaud, to describe the nature of theatre: a technology which allows us, for one night only, to get out of our heads.

But what happens when theatre stops working? Where do we go next?

To Be A Machine (Version 1.0) meditated on the use of technology to improve the human condition. Version 2.0 goes further, exploring how virtual reality will soon feel more immersive than reality itself. And that might mean we never have to go to the theatre again.

A VR and real-world experience which places you at the centre of someone else’s story.

For all touring information, please contact info@deadcentre.org


“Since 2012, Dead Centre has established itself as one of Ireland’s most exciting theatre companies… its tricksy, teasing work pushes the boundaries of theatre. This production layers world upon world, Inception-style, deconstructing our sense of reality and our sense of self. ”
★★★★
The Stage

“Bush Moukarzel and Ben Kidd’s playfully original work tests expectations of reailty and theatrical illusion.”
★★★★
Irish Times

“An unsettling experience, as we navigate the theatre, then the streets of Temple Bar, our own face appearing before us... we are nudged to consider the artifice… [and] reminded that human contact is what makes theatre.”
★★★★
Irish Examiner

 

Performed by Jack Gleeson

Additional Cast Andrew Bennett, Stephen Bradley, Caoimhe Coburn Gray, Faith Jones, Gerard Kelly, Erin McGathy, Faye O’Reilly, Mazana Ronaldson

Technical Direction Antoine Vanel, Blindsp0t
Set Design Andrew Clancy
Lighting Design Stephen Dodd
Sound Design and Music Kevin Gleeson
Costume Design Mae Leahy
Props & Set Dressing Eugenia Genunchi

360 Filming and Editing David Slowo, Wombat Media
360 Camera Crew Linda Curtin
360 Camera Operation Salma Ataya

Production Manager Seán Dennehy
Stage Manager Olivia Drennan
Assistant Stage Manager Anika Kidd
Chief LX Sebastian Pizarro Oliveira
VR Technicians Alexandra Rosenberger & John Wildgoose
Set Technicians Stephen Maher & Jakub Sobczak

Creative Producer Mags Keohane
Producer
Tilly Taylor
Directors Bush Moukarzel and Ben Kidd


To Be a Machine (Version 2.0) is a Dead Centre production supported by Dublin Theatre Festival, Mermaid Arts Centre and the Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin. Funded by the Arts Council | An Chomhairle Ealaíon and Science Foundation Ireland


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