Gimmickry or art? You decide.

What happens when 21st century digital media meets Shakespearian theatre?
Actor Ross Brannigan and his audience will explore this question at his performance of Holding the Digital Mirror up to Nature at the Auckland Fringe Festival.
In the show Brannigan, who has been a professional actor for 22 years and a digital communications lecturer at AUT University for nine years, explores whether digital techniques can sit with Shakespeare’s work. Are they useful or just gimmickry?
In the piece he plays Hamlet, Macbeth, Ariel and Prospero against backdrops of digital media he has created including pre-recorded video of actors recognisable from Shortland Street, Outrageous Fortune and Lord of the Rings.
For Ariel, the storm-conjuring sprite in The Tempest, Brannigan uses motion capture technology, wearing sensors which are picked up by cameras to animate the creature on screen.
Brannigan says the audience will be the final judge on whether digital technology is a fit for Shakespeare.  However what they may not know is that the 45 minute show, which is billed as “Purgatory being trapped in static” is also part of his thesis research for a Master’s degree in Communication Studies at AUT University.
The project is supported by CoLab, a research and development centre for creative use of technology in partnership with MIC Toi Rerehiko and AUT.

Holding the Digital Mirror up to Nature, 7pm at Galatos on March 3rd, 4th and 5th.

Fore more information contact:

Ross Brannigan
Lecturer
Digital Media & Performance
Communication Studies
Faculty of Design & Creative Technologies
AUT University
ph 921 9999 x 8356
ross.brannigan@aut.ac.nz