Dionysos 360 is an experimental perfromace made with a 360 ‘camera, based on three tragedies: Phoenician and Bacchae by Euripides and Aeschylus’s Mourners.

We want to put emphasis on the reconstruction and showing the mechanism of character transformation. In this way, we will continue and develop the discoveries made as part of the artistic-research project “The Dynamics of Metamorphosis”, which we began in 2012.
The subject of our studies is a sequence of roles played by three ancient actors who have created all the characters of the tragedy, which has never been studied before – and therefore the scene never shows more than three characters at once (not counting the choir, of course).
It turned out that from the algorithm of individual characters’ inputs and outputs, for most tragedies only one “viable” combination is possible. Our assumptions were confirmed that the order of transformations is the carrier of meanings for the whole trilogy, it determines the choice of acting means, and often directly influences the stage behavior of the characters.

The actors’ subsequent incarnations give new meanings to the myth evoked in the tragedy, and the chain of transformations binds all characters played by one actor into one meta-character. Its successive incarnations drive each other, often anticipate their appearance on stage, constantly reminding the viewer that who is behind the mask. The sequence of the characters played allows the actor to create the previous place for the next. It also allows the viewer to speak with the already known voice of the quoted character, who suddenly acutely “disagrees” with the new mask. Euripides makes his viewer aware of how much one can identify with someone else’s fate, joy or suffering and encourages him to do so. This extraordinary contextualization of the fates of various people is carried out according to certain rules. Discovering them and understanding them through acting is the subject of this project. Referring to the way ancient actors worked, as well as responding to the epidemic circumstances, we decided to try a new way of working on acting scores. Each of the actors will work in isolation – the first and only meeting will take place during the premiere.

Actors working in isolation, most often locked in their homes, were forced to put the greatest emphasis on the interpretation of the text and form, but also on understanding the mechanism of changes. The necessity to leave a place for the partner, to predict his presence in his actions, the effectiveness of which will be verified only on the day of the premiere, in front of the audience – will allow us to better understand the workshop of the ancient actor. Thanks to the use of 360 ‘technology, the recipient of the experience is invited to actively participate in the performance, to look around the stage. Acoustically, he is still at the heart of the action, and thanks to the omnidirectional cameras, he can decide himself which actor he follows, who he is watching at any given moment. This kind of involvement of the viewer in the performance creates a completely new form of reception, which paradoxically brings us closer to the ancient predecessors.

We hope that – as before – in the activities of neTTheatre – Theater in the Network of Relationships, derived from CHOREA – the world’s first online theater, we will be able to invite a completely new audience to the theater.