insideKENT Magazine Issue 25 - April 2014 | Page 25

ARTS

Murray Balladeer

Pheebs & RWig

Theatre in the Cloud

A new way of experiencing theatre
A NEW PROJECT INITIATED BY KENT-BASED COMPANY, FUTUREDREAM, IS ABOUT TO
CHANGE THE WAY AUDIENCES EXPERIENCE THEATRE. THEATRE IN THE CLOUD IS
EXPLORING WHETHER THEATRE CAN BE PRESENTED ONLINE, INSTEAD OF IN A BUILDING.
THE PROJECT IS ASKING THEATRE-MAKERS TO THINK ABOUT CREATING CHARACTERS
AND STORIES SPECIFICALLY FOR BOTH SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE WEB.
Five performance companies – each with a wide
variety of approaches – have been awarded
bursaries to experiment with the concept, and
most importantly, see what audiences think.
During this April’s Wise Words Festival,
Canterbury’s Workers of Art will use social media
platforms as a mechanism for the audience to
make friends with, or join the cause of, four
characters from Shak