Clamour

Clamour is an interactive mixed media theatre piece, written in collaboration with digital artist Simon Katan.

Exploring the limits of democracy in the social media age, this multi-movement work utilises audience mobile phones to establish interaction with events on stage, screen and via sound diffusion.

The work divides into three parts. In the first, a staged film-slideshow recounts the story of an ancient civilisation that flourished before coming to near destruction, with audience members receiving diverging subtitles and interpretations screened direct to their phones.

In the second part the audience is invited to vote in a series of referenda to establish a new era of democracy for the beleaguered civilisation, with the process being frustrated by a series of provocative binary choices and incomplete voter feedback as relayed from the stage.

Finally, in the third part, the fragmentation of the process is completed as audience members interact via their phones in an audiovisual sculpture as commentary on the destabilising effects of social media and modern technology on the social contract.

Supported by Arts Council England Grants for The Arts and Goldsmiths University, the opening performance was in November 2018 in the Sackler Space at the Roundhouse, London.