Zoom: A case study

Abstract

The paper 'Zoom: a case-study' explores the process of the staging of a hybrid performance that took place in September 2021 in Malta as a response to the Covid scenario. This production was watched online and live, with actors performing, using both realities.  The project also explores the notion of space, whether it is the virtual, as opposed to the 'real', and the different spatial dynamics that this performance occurred in. In fact, the performance happened in two 'real' spaces, connected one to the other through an intricate use of screens and cameras, in such a way that whichever way the audience decided to watch the performance in, they could still understand the narrative of the play. The paper is analysed by juxtaposing literature on hybridity against the experiences of the different stakeholders involved in this production, namely, the co-producers, the director (the researcher of this paper), the technical director, the actors and members of the audience, with the aim of analysing and evaluating the dynamics of the production as a model of good practice and discern whether it can provide a framework to work in for the restricted reality that the local industry is in currently, as well as for the future.