Peterborough students bring interactive digital performance to the stage

Set in an abstract dystopian UK, any and all distinctions between reality, memory and the virtual have long been abandoned.

It is described like this: “This is going to be a performance. It is going to be the year 2222... or something dystopian like that. The UK is going to be the same, but different: still nostalgic, still miserable, still proud, still lost, still patriotic, still torn, still desperate to know, still not listening. You are going to be the audience. An audience. You are going to witness a medical trial, or perhaps a presentation at a new technology conference, or perhaps an experiment in a military torture bunker, or perhaps... Or perhaps you are something else altogether. A deity. An abstract yet all-seeing voyeur. A democratic

God. You will design the perpetual existence of the characters and you will construct our collective experience.”

Gabe Manthorp, course leader for the BA (Hons) Performing Arts degree at UCP said “University Centre Peterborough are proud to be developing our relationship with The Key Theatre even further this year by fully embedding our 3rd year devised show within their public Summer Season of events. This shows a level of trust in the quality of our work which we have worked hard to achieve, and is a credit to our talented students. These students have spent the last few weeks on professional placements in a range of exciting roles with Eastern Angles, Metal and 20 Twenty Productions (to name just a few). Monotony in the UK promises to be an innovative and socially aware piece at the forefront of contemporary performing arts practice. Come and support these emergent artists as they make their bold first mark upon the professional industry.”

There are two performances - May 2 and 3 from 7.30pm and are open to students and members of the public.

Tickets are £12.50 for adults or £8 for concessions and available from The Key Theatre box office on 01733 207239 or www.vivacity.org.

On the opening night at 6pm, guests can also attend an additional performance entitled An Intervention with UCP alumni Jack Hudson and Tom Farrell. An Intervention was written by Mike Bartlett, writer of the hit TV series Doctor Foster.

It examines the relationship between two friends who realise that they probably shouldn’t be friends – a realisation that has a profound implication for both their futures.

This is an edited version of the production that was first produced in 2018 by Westacre Theatre Company, directed by UCP lecturer David Connor.

An Intervention is free to attend when booked at the same time as Monotony in the UK .