Who Laughs Last On The Hybrid Stage?

Abstract

The paper explores questions that open up our understanding of the use of tech in theatre and live performances. It investigates the challenges and possibilities of tech in the theatrical space. Our relationship with technology is now deeply embedded in the everyday practice of theatre-making. As a set designer and as a professor in the Stage Design class at the Düsseldorf Kunstakademie, I constantly come across the question: How can we productively collaborate with each other in using tech in the making of plays and performances? This question is central to my work, whether in the studio, the classroom, or on the stage. Technology shapes the spaces I design, and, in turn, it influences how I approach the collaboration between the performers, the audience, and the tools at our disposal. This paper investigates these shifting dynamics through a concrete example: my collaboration with Susanne Kennedy on Three Sisters, after Anton Chekhov, which premiered at the Münchner Kammerspiele in 2019 and later entered the repertoire at Vienna’s Volkstheater in 2021.