Last year on my final weekend at the Fringe, a friend of mine met a local man at the Silent Disco, started snogging him, and then eventually started to date him. There is one problem, my friend and I both live in Los Angeles. Long distance, Skype-centric relationships are becoming more common, which provided the ambitious Look Left Look Right theatre ensemble fodder for an exciting transatlantic collaboration.Working with a theatre company in Austin, Texas, both ensembles have created a relatively simple yet effective use of technology as performance. With all audience members in full view of the Skype camera (sitting in a living room of two flats no less), seeing and hearing both the actors and their counterparts‘ reactions, makes the shortcomings of the scenario (primarily plot predictability and a reliance on archetypal characters) drift away. Frankly, the participatory nature of this piece is what makes it work. For example, one of the American audience members at the reviewed performance had a stunning voice and serenaded us via Skype. The fact that technology like Skype helps people on opposite sides of the globe have meaningful relationships is fantastic, and that a couple of companies utilised it to make a compelling and current piece of theatre is laudable.
