The Role of Media on the Audience and Text in Nathan Ellis’ Play Work.Txt

Abstract

This article seeks to study the impact of media and mediatic tools on Nathan Ellis’ play Work.Txt (2022) as well as how such plays have transformed conventional forms into experiential forms using innovative technical means. Ellis’s play, which centres on the concept of media and media-performance relationships, alludes to changes in the portrayal of plays to audiences in connection to a technologically advanced society. In a broad sense, media refers to modes of communication that convey information between sender and recipient, such as television, radio, print and the internet. The usage of projection, internet and print alters the audience’s perception and encourages them to actively engage in the performances. This paper uses the notion of media to describe changes in the structure and context of performances as a result of media and experiential methods. On the other hand, this study will explore how the contemporary subject’s alienation is exacerbated by the mediated environment and society. Nathan Ellis’s play Work.Txt attempts to represent today’s alienated individuals to each other by employing individuals (the audience) in the performance and demonstrating how estranged they are from one other.