Binaural Dinner Date [Live Performance]
- Submitting institution
-
University of Greenwich
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Output identifier
- 28108
- Type
- I - Performance
- Venue(s)
- Theatre Royal Stratford East's cafe 'Gerry's'
- Open access status
- -
- Month of first performance
- -
- Year of first performance
- 2016
- URL
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2wv4zRggYI
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
1
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Co-founder and Executive Director of theatre and digital arts company ZU-UK, Lopes Ramos was the initiator, producer, co-director and lead researcher for the ‘post-immersive’ performance Binaural Dinner Date (BDD). BDD used bespoke technology and live performance to explore an alternative to the exclusive and expensive experiences abundant in mainstream immersive theatre (The Post-Immersive Manifesto, 2020). This research demonstrated not only how willingly participants shared intimate aspects of their lives with others in public spaces, but also how the use of the familiar setting of a ‘first date’ can enable intimacy to be achieved between participants in a safe and ethical manner, with the aid of audio-instructions and experienced live facilitation (ZU-UK: Training for Interactive Performance, 2019).
As lead researcher, producer and co-director, Lopes Ramos’ research enquiry focused on how to reach audiences who might not otherwise participate in theatre; how to use audio technology to create a scalable and affordable model for participatory performance; how to effectively design and facilitate a multi-modal approach that meets audience expectations of both a theatre and dating event. The narrative, technology and dating methods were modified over 35 workshops, using Participatory Rituals, Immersive Environments, and Interactive Gameplay as starting points (A Dramaturgy of Participation, 2016).
BDD received funding from Arts Council England, AHRC, British Council (Colombia) and SSHRC (Canada). It comprised 256 performances in the UK, Macao and Colombia 2016-2020 reaching over 3,000 participants at public restaurant and cafés (see: http://zu-uk.com/project/binaural-dinner-date/). Outcomes were also disseminated through key-notes delivered by Lopes Ramos at Conferences in the UK, Canada, Brazil and Colombia.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
