Quo Vadis, Theatrum? The Assimilation of Digital Media Languages in Contemporary Performance

The theatrical assimilation of the logics and modes of operation of digital media requires the elaboration of innovative interpretative models, which take into account the strong mediatisation of production and reception processes, the complex ontological status of the digital, and the scientific need to engage heterogeneous perspectives (media studies, aesthetics of the scene, sociology of culture). Adopting these premises, the article assumes an epistemological “posture” oriented to discern the influence of digital media in the formats, practices and interactional protocols of current performativity. To do so, the analysis focuses on two evolving fields of expression, immersive theatre and participatory digital theatre, circumscribing two case studies of particular interest: the spectacle-game Maternità by Fanny & Alexander, and the performance on Telegram Teatropostaggio by Giacomo Lilliù. Holding together the formal and thematic structures of these works, we come to detect the transformations inherent to dramaturgy, liveness and the role of the user-spectators, also measuring a specific ethical and critical drive that, animating the digital performances with energy, constitutes a possible interpretative key to the assimilation of the techno-media languages of today’s communication.