Michelle Barwood as the DJ. Photo: Sophie Barth

Video copyright: Three Pegs Productions

DISCO was a site-specific, immersive and interactive play that premiered in East London in June 2015.

 Harriet and Laurence, two strangers, both secretly lonely, arrive at a back room disco, and try to navigate the room. With their respective friends in tow, we see them collide, and circle each other but fail miserably at reaching out.

 DISCO is a play about how you can feel lonely within a group of people, and within a big city, it’s about looking for a connection without knowing how to make a real one.

​The play entertained audiences at The Victoria, Dalston, London (2nd – 4th June, 2015).

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Cast:

Laurence – Laurence North

Harriet – Gala Orsborn

Mags – Laura McAlpine

Laura – Charlotte Mack

Dave – Lee White

DJ –  Michelle Barwood

Barman – Mitchell Glass

Tango Dancer – Issabella FangGe

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Creative Team:

Writer – Sophie Andrea Mitchell

Director – Sophie Barth

Assistant Director – Brittany Geeta Johnson

Creative Consultant – Ant Stones

Sound Designer – Mark Webber

Lighting Designer – Matthew Coombes

Art Director – Xander Mitchell

After party DJ – Joel Crookes

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​This play was also part of my final MA project at East 15 Acting School, where instead of a thesis you would deliver a director’s workbook. In my workbook I describe the process of going through the script with the producers in Three Pegs, to the scenography and directing the play. One of the requirements of writing the workbook was to be able to back up the play theoretically, and thus I worked on the meaning of the internet and what it means to have a virtual personae. Furthermore, I explain how immersive theatre works and what effect it has on its audience, and since the play was located at The Victoria, I also discuss the relationship between immersive and site-specific performance. The performance received very good reviews by the audience online, and it sold out all three evenings. 

This show was the starting point of my interest in site-specific theatre that I have pursued ever since. I have gained new experience in this field, and it has been a quick evolving process, starting off from scratch in London and then turning into one of my main practices.

Two copies of the workbook are available for loan at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts.

Correction note: the content is in English

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