FREE THEATRE CHRISTCHURCH
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      • Bluebeard's Castle credits
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      • the meeting credits
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    • 1984: The Future Is Now
    • Make-up Ground down / Texts for Decomposition
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    • The Almost Free Theatre Kabernette
    • The Joffongract
    • King Lear
    • Kabarett
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I Sing the Body Electric

19 June - 1 July 2012, Drama Workshop 2, Jack Mann Auditorium
Winner, BEST THEATRE, 2012 Christchurch Press 'Best of the Year'
Production Credits
I Sing the Body Electric is a Free Theatre production in collaboration with the University of Canterbury's innovative HITLab NZ (Human Interface Technology Laboratory). Based on the infamous Don Juan legend, I Sing the Body Electric is a live exploration of the seductive nature of technology in modern life. 

Through experimentation and exploration in the theatre and in the lab, we explore how the parallel creation of technology and of women from male desire can become beautiful and seductive, but at the same time may become repetitive, obsessive and self-destructive. The idea of the women in the play is derived from archetypes found in myths and fairytales: SIren (The Odyssey), Lorelei, Rapunzel, The Black Widow, Medusa.

Set design, costume design and technology have been integrated to create an activated performance environment that responds to the actors. All sound effects and music within the scenes are produced live in the moment by the bodies and voices of the actors. The interactions progress from relatively simple technologies - microphones surfaces and costumes; live camera feeds and projections - to more sophisticated devices - two-way mirros; lasers; movement sensors that transform the actor into an audio waveform generator; and colour detection whereby the position and movement of certain colours within a video frame trigger and manipulate the playback of recorded sounds. The piece culminates in an immersive virtual reality environment that an actor can participate in through the use of motion tracking cameras.

I Sing the Body Electric was preceded by a work-in-progress titled 'Passion, Pulse and Power', which took place in the same venue for an invited audience in November 2011.

Reviews

...a rare visitation of exceptional theatre
​

A rare visitation of exceptional theatre
Lin Clark, Theatreview
...you'll be gutted you missed out
​

I Sing the Body Electric
Erin Harrington, CANTA, June 2012
Mindblowing, disturbing and enigmatic. A must see
​

Eerie, ti-tech tale of seduction
Georgina Stylianou, The Press, 21 June 2012
...theatre for all the senses. Outstanding
​

I Sing the Body Electric
Elizabeth O'Connor, Arts on Sunday, RadioNZ

Articles

High voltage theatre
The Press, GO Arts,
Friday 1 June 2012

Trick for new players: issues and opportunities for theatre in digital age

Peter Griffin, Playmarket Annual Journal, No. 47, 2012

Publicity

Passion, Pulse and Power
George Parker interviewed by Eva Radich, RadioNZ
Picture
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See film of work-in-progress Passion, Pulse and Power here.
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  • ABOUT
    • Manifestos and Writings
    • A brief history...
    • Who We Are
    • The University Connection
    • Shirley Horrocks documentary
    • Training and Devising
    • Home, Space and Design
  • HOME
  • WHATS ON
    • The Passionate Puritan
  • EDUCATION
    • Kids Holiday Programmes
    • Schools Workshops
    • Adult workshops
  • PRODUCTIONS 1979 - present
    • The Cat Eleonore
    • The Deadbeat Opera
    • Babylon Berlin
    • Beggars Banquet
    • Woyzeck
    • The Axe
    • Endgame
    • Digitising Performance
    • Erewhon: Over the Range
    • A Summer Night's Dream
    • How Dare You
    • A Winter's Tale
    • Ars Acustica
    • Alice
    • The Black Rider
    • Frankenstein
    • The Mauricio Kagel Project
    • Footprints/Tapuwae
    • Kafka's Amerika
    • Ubu Nights >
      • Past Ubu Nights >
        • Ma Ubu Night
        • Ubu Through the Looking Glass
        • Ubu in Wonderland Ubu Night
        • Frankenstein Ubu Night
        • Casablanca Ubu Night
        • Faust Ubu Night
        • Not Hamlet Ubu Night
        • Punk Ubu Night
        • The Art of the Deal Ubu Night
        • Crossroads Ubu Night
        • Ubu Shows Us the Way to Brecht's Whiskey Bar
        • The Devil and the Blues Ubu Night
        • Bowie Ubu Night
        • Warhol Ubu Night
        • Berlin Kabarette
        • Beat Ubu Night
        • Twin Peaks Ubu Night
        • David Lynch Ubu Night
        • Kafka Ubu Night
        • Tango Ubu Night
        • Ubu Ubu Night
        • Lovecraft Ubu Night
    • Canterbury Tales
    • The Soldier's Tale
    • Bluebeard's Castle >
      • Bluebeard's Castle credits
    • I Sing the Body Electric
    • Big Heads Protest
    • Hereafter
    • Passion, Pulse and Power
    • The Earthquake in Chile
    • Don Giovanni Invites you to Dinner
    • Doctor Faustus
    • The Marvellous Corricks >
      • Corricks - Credits
    • Distraction Camp
    • Remake
    • Ella and Susn
    • There and Back Again
    • Faust Chroma
    • Enigma Emmy Goering/Nico Sphinx of Ice
    • Change Proposal
    • Faust Feast
    • Diana Down Under
    • Philoctetes >
      • Production Credits - Piloctetes
    • Fantasia
    • Christmas Shopping
    • Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
    • Achternbusch in the Antipodes
    • Caucasian Chalk Circle
    • Samson Airline
    • Antigone
    • Kabarett Kabul
    • Footprints/Tapuwae
    • The Well Intentioned Wife
    • The Last Days of Mankind
    • Bakkhai / Diotek
    • Krapp's Last Tape
    • Murderer Hope of Women / The Philosopher's Stone
    • Comrade Savage
    • Love on a Bicycle
    • Crusoe: A Lapsarian Mass in Twelve Movements
    • Medea
    • Songs to the Judges
    • Resolution Island
    • Oedipus Rex/Oedipus at Colonus
    • The Empire Builders
    • States of Shock
    • Robinson Crusoe or: I That Was Born To Be My Own Destroyer
    • Power
    • MedeaMaterial
    • Salome
    • Electra
    • The Girl Who Sings Waterfalls
    • Hamletmachine
    • Oresteia
    • A Respectable Wedding
    • Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
    • Cloudkiwiland
    • Double Act / Postponeless >
      • double act credits
    • Preversions
    • The Mortal Pleasure of Wander Lust
    • Red Cross & Takeaway
    • Lulu
    • Cowboy Mouth
    • The Meeting >
      • the meeting credits
    • Action / Tongues
    • The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
    • A Letter from L
    • Dinosaurs and All the Rubbish / The Hunting of the Snark
    • Free Theatre Christmas Show
    • The Ride Across Lake Constance
    • Electra
    • In Three Minds
    • The Rapist Over Suzannah
    • 1984: The Future Is Now
    • Make-up Ground down / Texts for Decomposition
    • Leonce and Lena
    • Court Case: Free Theatre vs The Arts Centre
    • The Almost Free Theatre Kabernette
    • The Joffongract
    • King Lear
    • Kabarett
    • King Ubu
    • Black Cat Cabaret
    • The Gas Heart/Ox on the Roof/The Mirror Wardrobe One Fine Evening
    • Jazz Cellar Dada / Heavy Metal Cabaret
    • Round Dance
    • Woyzeck
  • Te Puna Toi
    • Past Te Puna Toi Projects
    • Artists in Residence
  • SUPPORT
  • CONTACT
  • CNZ application