Duration: June 2022 to the end of 2023

Theatre performance with audience participation, interaction, sensors, data and IoT.

A show that can only come about through the active participation of the audience: The performance group STERNA | PAU and web designer Lisa Passing created digital tools for a show that playfully combines theatre and computer games.

The pandemic was a time in which new digital practices were developed. Interactivity and the active influence of the audience took on a whole new meaning in performances that suddenly no longer took place in the theater space, but in front of the screen. The performance group STERNA | PAU wanted to bring these same techniques and modes of action, which we are primarily familiar with from computer games, back into presence theater. Tools from computer games such as input and feedback or input and output were tested for their suitability for the theater space. The participation concept for the ghostlike production was developed on the basis of questions: Should data be constantly collected from the audience without them having to become active – for example, by recording sounds with microphones and using them to influence projections? Or are controllers used that are only available to individual people in the audience and that, for example, activate motors in the performers’ clothing and thus let them know how they should behave or move? ghostlike is influenced by the genre of so-called rogue-like games, a subgroup of computer role-playing games. The name is based on the 1980 role-playing game Rogue, in which an amulet consisting of various levels must be found in a dungeon populated by monsters. For the production, flashlights were distributed in the audience and color-coded light sensors were attached to the stage – the audience, who were always also participants here, were thus able to actively influence the course of the performance using light feedback.

WHERE: Essen (Residenz im Maschinenhaus Essen), Berlin (Haus Kunst Mitte), Bochum (BlueSquare, Ruhr University), Düsseldorf (FFT Forum Freies Theater Düsseldorf)

The premiere of ghostlike took place on 25 February 2023 in Düsseldorf. Further development and evaluation of the tools by the end of 2023.

TEAM ghostlike: Concept and play development: Maren Becker, Yasmin Fahbod, Lisa Passing, Laura Pföhler, Hannes Siebert, Jolanda Uhlig. Directed by: Laura Pföhler. Performance: Maren Becker, Yasmin Fahbod, Hannes Siebert. Creative technology: Lisa Passing. Gamedesign: Hannes Siebert. Bühne & Video: Christopher Dippert. Stage design assistance: Lea Deckers. Costume: Jolanda Uhlig.
Music: Maren Becker, Laura Pföhler. Production management: Laura Zielinski. Veranstaltungstechnik und Lichtdesign: Julius Kindermann. Sounddesign: Simon Nieder. Dramaturgie: Aidan Riebensahm, Laura Zielinski.