Faculty of Arts

Brave New Normal / COVID 19_84

The University of Nottingham proudly presents two groundbreaking virtual theatre plays that illustrate like no other the struggles of the times we are living.

Produced, designed, adapted and performed by staff, students and alumni of the University of Nottingham Malaysia and China campuses, these two plays, conceived as a dual performance, explore the risks of the dehumanization of our society. The stories resort to technology to bridge physical distance, creating innovative performative languages.  

George Orwell and Aldous Huxley conceived their most influential works as a warning. How far are we to embrace their dystopias as our own?

All performances:

  • will be in the Screening Room, Hallward Library, University Park, Nottingham
  • are free but you need to book your seat in advance

Brave New Normal - a virtual parable

This is an original adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s "Brave New World", translocated to a world very similar to ours. Humankind, for the sake of fairness and safety, lives isolated in an unreal bubble —“the New Normal”—subordinated to its own inventions: science, technology and social organisation.

The show was produced during a period of the strictest lockdown, with all the actors performing from their respective bubbles, scattered across Malaysia and China, with no physical interaction. Adapted and directed by Sergio Camacho (University of Nottingham, Malaysia campus).

There will be a synchronous full screening of the play followed by question and answer session with the original cast.

Poster promoting the play "Brave New Normal"
 

There will be a synchronous full screening of the play followed by question and answer session with the original cast.

  • Date: Thursday 5 May
  • Time: 10am to 12pm (UK time)

Book your seat for Brave New Normal

 

COVID 19_84 - a self-fulfilling dystopian tale

In this adaptation to the current times of George Orwell's masterpiece, technology breaks the boundaries of physical distance to establish a multiversal narrative, with physical actors, virtual actors and audiences interconnected synchronously in Malaysia and China into a single hybrid-theatre performance. Directed by Sergio Camacho (University of Nottingham, Malaysia) and produced by Derek Irwin (University of Nottingham, Ningbo).

In this play our society is put in front of a distorted mirror, reflecting a world in which people control one another, in which history is rewritten in front of our very own eyes, in which divergency is cancelled, and freedom is forfeited for our own good.

There will be two performances of COVID 19_84.

Poster promoting the play "Covid 19_84"
 

Performance one

A synchronous full screening of the play followed by question and answer session with the original cast.

  • Date: Friday 6 May
  • Time: 10am to 12pm (UK time)

Book your seat for performance one

Performance two

Full screening of the play.

  • Date: Friday 6 May
  • Time: 5 to 8pm (UK time)

Book your seat for performance two

 

Faculty of Arts

University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD

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