Performance takes what’s on stage online

Typically, when you sit down at a theatre, you’re told to switch off your phone, put it on silent and bring your full attention to the stage. SRSLYyours Theatre Ensemble’s Picture Perfect performance however asks audiences to do the opposite. It asks them to join a group chat and observe part of the theatre performance via their device as the rest unfolds live on stage. After its premiere in March in Limassol, Picture Perfect returns with five performances in Nicosia and Limassol. And it’s in English!

It’s an unusual concept for a performance to be held half online, half live and for audiences to be constantly checking their buzzing phones but Picture Perfect blends digital and real life. Kind of like what our daily lives are today – part virtually, part in person.

In Nicosia, it will premiere on November 6 at Artos House with two more performances on the following day at 4.30pm and 8.30pm. Limassol’s performances will again be held at Rialto Theatre on November 9 and 10 with actors Marios Ioannou, Elena Kallinikou, Marina Makris portraying Lea, Max and Mia.

Strangely detached from themselves and others, the three protagonists are engaged in a curious activity. They play a game where they re-enact iconic images from a large photographic archive as a way to understand their presence and connection to the world. Images from pop culture such as the Kardashians posing, but also tragic events like Hiroshima and a drowned boy are depicted both on stage and on smartphones.

The award-winning Ensemble SRSLYyours challenges the theatrical experience, connecting three protagonists, a virtual butler and the audience in one single group-chat for stage. Navigating through this digital wasteland – and gradually engaging their voice, body, breath and tears – the performers discover a potential loophole to rise from the techno-scientific obsession of simulated imagery toward rediscovering a human experience. A tech-based hybrid performance and a first for Cyprus’ theatre world, Picture Perfect seeks to re-experience what the human experience is and feels like.

Picture Perfect

Play blending stage and online performance. November 6 Artos House, November 7 Artos House, 4.30pm and 8.30pm. November 9 and 10 Rialto Theatre. With actors Marios Ioannou, Elena Kallinikou and Marina Makris. Artos House (Nicosia): 99 517910, Rialto Theatre (Limassol): 77777745