‘I wish I was Lonely’ performance explored the ways in which we our consumed in technology. Technology is depicted as a controlling force which determines the way we live our lives to a certain extent. They gave an example of what it really means to ‘miss’ someone. They raised questions and in turn our own questions were raised. How can we really miss someone if we are in constant contact with them through technology? Phone calls, texts, social media, skype, facetime. All these things constitute in keeping us constantly connected with one another. The performers emphasised the fact that before technology advanced, we were able to genuinely understand the concept of ‘missing’ someone. In my day and age, we can never really feel that depth of missing someone, because we have never or can ever experience that lack of contact.

The performers also explored the ways in which technology can connect us for the better. For example, the story of Sam was very compelling because it engaged the audience on a personal level. We tend to take fore-granted the fact that we have the power to call anyone we want, anytime we want and the Sam story emphasises the importance of the phone call as a way to connect. In this case, the matter of “just hearing a voice” (Thorpe and Walker, 2015) was the most important thing to Sam and this connection ultimately saved his life.

The performers involved the audience to the extent that the audience themselves were the performers. We were asked to keep our phones on and to answer any call we received. Dialogue between the performers would be interrupted and we were encouraged to answer the calls and act normal in order to have an authentic conversation. The performers described the advantages and disadvantages of this. They gave examples such as, the experience they had with a woman who had answered her phone and the audience and performers all believed that something terrible was happening, however this was not the case and this instant ended up being a very comical aspect of the performance.

The performers informed us of the difficulties of interacting and including the audience members. They emphasised the importance of creating “a way out” (Thorpe and Walker, 2015) for audience members who were unwilling or unconfident in participating. The performers also informed us that the key aspect of audience interaction is to avoid making the audience members feel uncomfortable by “respecting their decisions” (Thorpe and Walker, 2015). The advice they gave to us will certainly help me when it comes to thinking about audience interaction for my final site specific performance.

Walker, H. J. and Thorpe, C. (2015) I Wish I Was Lonely. [performance] Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe (dir.) Lincoln: Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, 11 February.