Genre: immersive theatre
Keywords: conspiracy theories, online lives
Format: theatre production
Developer: de Toneelmakerij i.s.m. Theater Sonnevanck
Premiere: March 2024 (pre-premiere June 2023)
About the production:
Rabbit Hole is an interactive performance by Dutch youth theatre company de Toneelmakerij. In a unique cross-media environment, the boundaries between online and offline are completely blurred. Through their mobile phones, the public is part of the chat forums which the isolated Samy, main character of the story, visits. Do you follow him into the Rabbit Hole? Or do you stay out?
What I did:
Through Innnovation:Lab, the digital development partner of this project, I was hired to develop the narrative experience design of this play. It was my task to combine the live space of the theatre play with the online space that was envisioned for the audience, and design an interactive narrative that would make the two blend seamlessly.
I also was part of a panel in digitality in theatre for ACuTe (European partnership for development of new technology in theatre), and have continued developing the narrative experience design of the project in between the pre-premiere in Linz (Austria) and the full tour in the Netherlands in 2024.
At the request of ACuTe, dramaturgs Paulien Geerlings, Nina van Tongeren and me wrote an extensive case study about the use of narrative design in theatre.
‘Engage—Test—Change: Designing New Audience Relations’ has been published in the OAMK Journal and describes our process in developing a digital dramaturgy. You can read the whole study here.
Work examples:
Original narrative design document (English)
Overview app and live theatre connection points (Dutch)
Case study published in OAMK Journal (English)
Reviews and Articles:
Theaterkrant “Beautifully designed online radicalisation” (review in Dutch)
NRC “Visually overwhelming” (review in Dutch)
Other media:
Short video explaining the project
Trailer video
Awards and Nominations:
Zilveren Krekel 2024 ‘Most impressive achievement in youth theatre’ for digital scenography