Phones centre stage? Surely, the play's the thing

Theatrical tech overload is another symptom of our digital obsession, writes Kate Maltby

- Kate Maltby

In early 2024, Kip Williams's production of The Picture of Dorian Gray landed in London's West End. The show starred Sarah Snook, hot from Succession: it was marketed as a chance to see Snook perform 26 roles in a one-woman retelling of Oscar Wilde's novella.

In fact, these transformations were largely achieved by video trickery. Snook displayed stamina as five camera operators chased her around to capture live-feed from every angle. But as an audience, we spent most of our time watching Snook's face projected onto screens, as Snapchat and Instagram filters transformed her into caricatures.

Audiences loved it. A few critics refrained from the adulation, including myself and The Observer's Susannah Clapp. But the show was a hit, until it moved to Broadway. In a review for the New York Times, Jesse Green thundered: "The technology dominates all other values, including Wilde's, often denying the human contact, and contract, that are at the heart of theater's effectiveness." He was right.