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Virtual dramaturgy: Finding liberty in the virtual machine

Kristof Van Baarle, Christel Stalpaert & Kris Verdonck
Published online: 13 Mar 2014.

To cite this article: Kristof Van Baarle, Christel Stalpaert & Kris Verdonck (2013) Virtual dramaturgy: Finding liberty in the virtual
machine, Performance Research: A Journal of the Performing Arts, 18:5, 54-62, DOI: 10.1080/13528165.2013.828941

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 Virtual dramaturgy
Finding liberty in the virtual machine
KRISTOF VAN BAARLE, CHRISTEL STALPAERT
& KRIS VERDONCK
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In ‘M, a reflection’ (2012), a performance could mean – specifically in consideration

conceived and directed by Belgian theatre with ‘M, a reflection’. Besides the problematic
and visual artist Kris Verdonck (°1974) based consequences for notions of presence, liveness
on texts by German playwright Heiner Müller and duality, there is also the troubling effect of
(1929–1995), an actor – Johan Leysen – virtuality on the subject. Humanity’s identity is
dialogues and hence performs with a hologram at stake when the real and the virtual become
projection of himself. The projection has interchangeable. The use of new technologies
realistic depth and is almost indistinguishable in theatre also offers a critical position
from its antagonist. This theatrical constellation towards them and allows at the same time to
deliberately unsettles the spectator’s smooth make things explicit in ways that were not
perception of the performance. The audience possible before.
constantly has to ‘look for the real one’, which
TA U TO LO G I CA L D O U B L E
is an increasingly difficult task. Several scenes
are even ‘performed’ by two projections, The dialectics at work in ‘M, a reflection’ evoke
removing the life actor from the stage (see the troubled relation between reality and
fig. 3). Verdonck’s work deals with the complex virtuality. By the application of technology that
relationship between human and technology equals the live actor to its virtual counterpart
– ‘the machine’ – that characterizes our time. we are immediately pointed to the fact that
This dualism or symbiosis considers both small indeed these two zones are starting to become
everyday situations such as our dependence indistinguishable or even further, have blurred
on cell phones and laptops, and the larger boundaries and start to overlap. Verdonck
machines of ideology and economic systems. already applied hologram-like technologies
Verdonck relates his research into machines in earlier performances. ‘THEY’, part of the
and systems large and small to Müller. Living installation circuit ‘K, a society’ (2010) shows
in the centre of 20th–century European three projections of opera singers performing
history, going from the Weimar Republic to an aria. However, the perspective is somehow
the Third Reich, over the German Democratic lacking, making it an uncanny and confusing
Republic (GDR) to unified Germany, Heiner experience for the spectator. Another research
Müller never stopped analysing and dissecting in hologram-like projection is ‘HUMINID’, an
mechanisms of power and control. What installation from ‘Actor #1’ (2011). In a theatre
makes Müller’s critical analysis so special is setting with stage, curtains and prompter’s
his resistance to conclusion. The dialectics of box, a very realistic projection of an actor
thesis and antithesis never come to a synthesis (again, Johan Leysen) performs fragments of
and nothing and nobody were spared from his Samuel Beckett’s ‘Lessness’. The image is a little
critique and insight. too small to be entirely realistic, however,
In this essay we will propose several ideas revealing from the start that the virtual image
on how virtuality can be applied in a critical – however close to reality it comes here – is
way in contemporary theatre and what this neither performing live nor ‘really’ present.

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 In ‘M, a reflection’ the projected image is life- Another tactic is the creation of a less explicit
size and placed alongside its live double in enemy, using the terminology of ‘antagonists’,
high definition. The illusion works and brings hence avoiding the fascist connotation of
the virtual and the live actor in the same zone excluding the ‘other’. The most efficient way to
of perception. Today, virtuality as simulacrum do this is through the populist use of images
pur sang is replacing our knowable reality with in the media. As such, political groups create
increasing rapidity. It disturbs the relation of their own virtual, mediatized realities, as
human to the real, doubling the symbolic order can economic systems. Instead of changing
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with a simulacrum that has no connection to reality, it is thus replaced by an ideologically

reality whatsoever. The real is surpassed in time constructed double. It is clear, however, that
by its virtual alternative, not only in media like these more ‘friendly’ tactics – when compared
television, radio and the Internet, but also in its to explicit fascist discourses – are no less
originating moment (Causey 2007: 37). exclusive as far as otherness is concerned.
Another aspect to be considered in the rise of The economy in its current form has become
the virtual is its consequences for subjectivity. It a virtual given. Money is no longer linked to
is generally accepted that the human needs the any real value beside itself and trade and stock
‘other’ in order to develop his identity. One markets have no solid grounds, as the crises
encounters oneself through the ‘other’. There is over the past hundred years have proven. It
a need for an ‘agonist’ or ‘adversary other’; is hard to think outside capitalist structures
without the existence (and acceptance) of and the same can be said about democracy as
difference – in the poststructuralist sense – an auto-referential system (Badiou 2011: 10).
a dangerous monadic worldview can arise.1 Due Not only does this form of thinking reduce 1
Belgian philosopher
Chantal Mouffe’s notion of
to the growing importance of virtual and alternatives, it also excludes large parts of pluralistic democracy is
mechanical doubles like Facebook, Twitter and the world’s population. Müller and Verdonck based on agonism, a
distinction between
biometric data, we are erasing our physical both demonstrate that the virtual points of
‘enemy’ and ‘adversary’. It
relation with the ‘other’, replacing this ‘other’ as reference to develop our ‘selves’ are essentially requires the opponent
point of reference by the images we live by. As egoistic (see fig. 6). In “seek[ing] ourselves within the context of the
political community to be
Broadhurst observes; in our current “digitally through the very technologies that we imagine considered not as an
engaged world […] we seek ourselves through and produce”, we ignore the other. In the act enemy to be destroyed,
but as an adversary whose
the very technologies that we imagine and of recognition alongside so-called common existence is legitimate and
produce” (2012: xi) sense, we capture otherness on the basis of must be tolerated (1988).
See also the forthcoming
On the level of politics a similar dynamics easily recognisable external features such as publication by Christel
of identity making is at work. In times when race, gender or age. This mirroring attitude of Stalpaert and Goran
Petrovic on “Performing
most traditional parties increasingly look alike, common sense is often enough reductive as far the Emigratory
politicians may feel the need to prove they differ as ‘mapping’ the other is concerned. When we Experience” in TDPT.
from other parties. ‘Making the difference’ is look for superficial characteristics of the other,
often what is at stake in elections. When the such as form, function or kind, we annex and
difference between groups becomes blurred capture him or her within preconceived notions
because the exponents all operate in the same and identities, in what Deleuze and Guattari
so-called democratic system, political parties called ‘images-sans-corps’ or ‘images-without-
lose their identity and extremist groups seize bodies’ (1972: 14). This tautological situation
the opportunity to install an antagonism turns the individual subject into a ‘barred
through difference. This was the case in Greece, subject’, which stands in the shadow of its
for instance, with the rise in popularity of the virtual ‘free’ double (Žižek 2002: 183).
neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn. Political parties Müller’s thinking and writing unveil both
and groups such as this turn the adversary other the necessity of the other as adversary and the
or group of others into an enemy or scapegoat gradual vanishing of this other and thus also the
and blame them for the nation’s problems. growing auto-referentiality in monadic systems,

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 economic and political. In one key scene in about conflicts, particularly about conflicting
M, a reflection Leysen and his virtual self play parties and interests. Questions and answers
the game of rock–paper–scissors (see fig. 4). become interchangeable and – as mentioned
Naturally, they always tie, since they are the before – a synthesis of the dialectics is
‘same’. Frustration mounts, as they are stuck in deliberately avoided. In Deleuze’s words, Müller
an everlasting loop from which there is no easy and Kluge encounter the ‘other’ following an
escape. They seemingly resign to the matter, ‘accord discordant’ or discordant harmony. They
going into the following dialogue, based on the agree to differ and disagree (Deleuze 2004:
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writings of Müller: 183) and, as such, avoid reducing ‘otherness’

in the act of recognition; they postpone final
When two dogs fight, and one lays down on his
back, the other one cannot bite any longer. – Does
interpretation and judgement.
this also count between two states? – No, I’m The selected Müller texts also lack
talking about the bigger picture, the East lies on a traditional dramatic structure, creating
its back and now the West can no longer bite. typical examples of his multi-layered textscape
(Lehmann 2006: 148). The continuous flow of
Ontological issues and politics are never too texts without a logical dramatic tension and
far from each other in Müller’s writings. He the ongoing play with reality and virtuality
observes how the West and the East obtained evoke a paradoxical state of being that haunts
an antagonist identity due to their animosity the whole performance. The type of conflict
during the Cold War. The modern state’s or dialogue in the texts, but also between the
bio-politics supported the constellation of real and the virtual as they are presented in ‘M,
clear-cut national identities, sustaining an a reflection’ resemble German social critic and
antagonism between ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ philosopher Walter Benjamin’s (1892–1940)
Europe. Now, the East has collapsed and has ‘dialectics at standstill’ (Benjamin 1999: 10).
been incorporated by the West, which has This implies a ‘bipolar and tensive opposition:
created a tautological loop on a political as the two terms are neither removed from nor
well as an economic level. Müller relentlessly recomposed in unity but kept in an immobile
pointed at the omnipresence of capitalism coexistence charged with tensions’ (Agamben
and warned against the absence of a powerful 2011: 73). This momentarily ‘frozen’ dialectics
adversary who could prevent the development is as much a real situation as it is a tactic to
towards an alleged homogeneity in a monadic, represent paradoxical constellations, in this
auto-referential system. Verdonck willingly case the tautological relation with the ‘self’ in
creates such an auto-referential system in M, an increasingly virtual society.
a reflection in which the main actor is doubled,
making him his own adversary. Presenting the
ACTING WITH THE VIRTUAL
subject as its own enemy, M, a reflection shows
the damage that can be done by such a monadic To tackle the self-reflexivity caused by virtuality
system while simultaneously deconstructing it. and the proliferation of simulacra, Verdonck
Kris Verdonck and dramaturge Marianne Van creates a virtual machine himself. The machine
Kerkhoven selected texts that testify to this of M, a reflection could be said to be the
adversary and auto-reflexive notion. In addition performance set-up itself. Three invisible gauzes
to Müller’s writings, they selected transcripts on which the virtual actor is projected are
of several interviews of Müller by West-German placed on stage at different depth and height
filmmaker Alexander Kluge (see fig. 5). These (see fig. 1). The high quality of the video-images
conversations are characterized by a profound combined with the light design creates an in-
agreement to disagree on the discussed topics – depth figure that looks like an actor but is in
they were einverstanden. It is on the level of the fact a projection. In order to further flatten out
content that the paradox develops .They talk the differences between the live actor and the

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 ■■Figure 1: Frontal sketch
of the stage set-up. Three
projection spaces are
clearly visible: one on the
top right and two, left and
right, at the bottom.
“Upstairs”, the live actor
cannot come; it’s all virtual
there. ‘Downstairs’, the
projectors can be turned
off, allowing the live actor
to move in a certain area.
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The central pillar can

disguise the live actor
allowing the live to go over
into the virtual and vice
versa when walking from
one side of the pillar to the
other. The actor remains
virtual actor, the live actor is positioned behind impossible. This strengthens the absence of
behind the pillar in this
the gauzes most of the time, which gives him conflict in the texts – an absence that already situation.
the same ‘resolution’ as the projected image. required a frontal acting style with very little
■■Figure 2: Top view of the
In addition to that, the range of positions that physical – or virtual – interaction. stage, with the audience
can be taken on stage by the live actor is limited The ‘cold’ atmosphere and the virtual members sitting at the
bottom. There are four
by the projections. It is impossible to move performance set-up provide a particular positions that can be taken
behind the projection; to do so would mean challenge on the level of acting for Leysen. behind the gauzes (A, B, C
and D) and two in front of
that the projection would be projected on the Technical restrictions of the camera, software them (E and F). During the
actor as well, breaking the illusion immediately. and projectors allow only a moderate speed of monologue of
‘Wolokolamsker Chaussee
The actor’s moving space is further limited by movement for the filmed part. In order to render 1’, the actor can come
the light design that doubles the light used in the difference between the live and the virtual forward to the F position,
thus deconstructing the
the video. In the end only a number of fixed smaller, the movements of the live actor are whole apparatus. The black
positions and walking paths can be occupied restricted as well. Small, slow and spare gestures boxes at the bottom are the
projectors that are stored in
(see fig. 2). The actor is tactically placed within almost literally freeze him into an image. This black cases. There is a small
the constellation of the virtual machine of M, thorough scoring of movement, adjusted to the platform between up- and
downstairs right. This
a reflection and is thus deprived of his liberty. technical capabilities of the digital and virtual helped in creating depth.
The working method consisted of shooting technology dictates the live actor, i.e. ‘the real’.
the video material to which the live actor was Virtuality leaves only some space to move
to react during the performance first, limiting around and turns the actor into a ‘barred’ actor,
his options on the level of acting from the to put it in Žižek’s words. The live actor has to
start. Especially performing live dialogues (as adapt to the theatrical machine.
opposed to pre-recorded dialogues between two Due to these technical restrictions, Leysen
projections) proved to be difficult, since one of found it difficult to ‘connect’ with his virtual
the protagonists is always a projected character, counterpart, as is required in traditional theatre.
with a pre-recorded voice. The rhythm of the On top of that, capturing the live in a projected
conversation is for that matter decided by the video had unpredictable results, and the
projection and the live actor has to react in time confrontation between live and virtual always
during the gaps. The priority of the virtual in varied, an issue that will be discussed in more
time is here to be taken literally. It deliberately depth later on. As it turned out, the virtual has
shrouds the whole in a ‘cold’ atmosphere. its own language, which human has only just
There is a deliberate distance to what is started to learn. Making contact in virtuality is
being said, a detachment, ‘de-pathization’ hard – just like making contact with a virtual
and ‘disinvolvement’ towards the cruelties in self. Verdonck embraced this failure to connect
Müller’s texts. (Lehmann 2006: 118) In addition between the actor and his virtual counterpart as
to that, the live and virtual Johan Leysen rarely it resonated with the ontological issues in his
look at each other and touching is, of course, particular constellation of virtual and real.

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■■(left) Figure 3: Here the This is an element that is present throughout the comfortable gaze in our current digital
‘actors’ are “upstairs”, talking
about being right or Verdonck’s oeuvre – once someone is scopic regime – not only at theatre and art, but
left-handed. Of course, they choreographed by the mechanical, technological at the world itself – a scopic regime that is itself
are both. To create a
connection between
or digital, there is a restriction. The essence stuck in a ‘tautological repetition of the same’
downstairs and upstairs, we of technological progress is often experienced (Virilio 2008: 35). The exclusive construction
placed the sound of
footsteps on a metal
as an increase in possibilities. However, the of language and the symbolic order reduces
staircase every time growing dependence on devices and automatic our perception of the world, resulting in what
somebody goes up or down.
systems that on first sight may create new Virilio calls a ‘sensorial privation’ (2008: 35). M,
This helped in shaping the
illusion. Sound in general opportunities, at the same time exclude other, a reflection thus not only takes a critical stand
– footsteps, breathing, particularly embodied, ones. towards virtuality, but questions our restricted
smoking– and the correct
location of the sound, are and disembodied perception of reality as well.
essential in order for the The proliferation of new media apparatuses
illusion to work. COGITO SUM, ERGO SUM?
create, in Müller’s words, ‘the media’s smog,
■■(cenrtre) Figure 4: Playing Friezing the conflict between reality and taking away the mass’s clear view on the
rock–paper–scissors. This
game was actually an virtuality into a state of being that is situation, erasing their memory, sterilising their
action that replaced for us maintained during the whole performance, phantasy.’ (‘Philoktet 1979’ in Müller 1990: 165,
Müller’s text ‘The Horatian’,
a play on righteousness and gives the spectator time to think over this trans. van Baarle) In the theatre, Verdonck offers
the conflict between law often-invisible relation. The creation and his spectators a track to search for the real,
and honour. Impossible to
play in the context of M, a development of a dialectics at a standstill, but also for the virtual. He turns the classical
reflection, the text is allows us to evaluate both sides, or in the desire for reality – that which Alain Badiou
summarized by this single
game: They always tie, and
case of Müller and Verdonck, to continuously calls the passion for the real (2007: 52) – into
both lose. look for the other side of a story, fact, truth or its opposite. The performance does so by taking
phenomenon. There is also time to evaluate its time playing with the technological trick of
our own superficial perception of both real projection, and eventually by deconstructing
and virtual realities. The rise of aesthetic the mechanism of technology during the live
populism in late-capitalist and postmodern actor’s final monologue. In the last scene, the
times made Fredric Jameson observe the projected images dissolve and the stage is fully
emergence of “a whole new culture of the lit, rendering the gauzes visible. The usual
image”. Its constitute features were the notion immediacy and lack of distance characterizing
of “a new depthlessness” (2004: 193) and the digital and virtual media is broken down and
consequent “waning of affect” (2004: 196). The this inaugurates a critical reflection on the
play with the audience’s perception criticizes matter. After this monologue, three final

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projected scenes conclude the performance. Thus it can be stated that the projection in ■■(right) Figure 5: Having a
smoke after a difficult
The technology recovers surprisingly quickly, ‘M, a reflection’ haunts the live actor but also monologue. There is also
immediately reclaiming presence again and the spectator. time to laugh. Müller had a
strange sense of humour
thus confusing the level of reality of ‘both’ Still, the status of ‘liveness’ attained by the and he could go so far in
actors on stage. Even after the technological virtual, even though it is clear that it is not his analysis that whatever
he dived into became funny.
construction was unveiled just minutes ago, the real, remains. The comparison can be made The interviews with
projected actor remained ‘there’. with the emotional bond that exists between Alexander Kluge are
brightened up by these
In general, one of the most surprising side consumers and certain (technological) products.
‘giggling moments’. Müller
effects is the equal level of presence that the No other company has accomplished this was known for always
live and the virtual claimed in the performance. better than Apple. On YouTube there are smoking cigars and
drinking whisky, something
An uncanny feeling arises when the two plenty of movies showing shocked reactions we couldn’t leave out. One
figures are visible – at least one of them to the destruction of Apple notebooks or of them is carrying a gas
mask, another recurring
must be ‘fake’. Analysing their presence and smartphones. Samsung promotes their latest element in Müller’s work.
liveness, the dualities presence-absence and models of smartphones with the slogan ‘your
liveness-mediation prove to be insufficient to new life companion’. Recent tests on loneliness
describe the being-there of the figures that and depression in elderly people conducted
creates an intermediary zone of non-presence in retirement homes and hospitals show
and non-liveness. Both the actor-as-image that in only a few days an emotional bond
and the image-as-actor are wandering in the develops between a ‘companion-owner’ and
space opened up between ‘the vanished place a robot baby seal called ‘PARO’ , reducing the
of referential origin, and its re-presentation’ feeling of loneliness. The relation between
(Zummer 2012: 2). This means a loss for the the PARO robot and the human is off course
live actor, but a huge gain for the virtual. out of balance, since it is only the human
How is this presence acquired by the virtual? who is relating to the device and not vice
Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben points versa. The consumer projects these emotions
at the need of the virtual to be linked to a real on the apparatus and even can think of the
subject in order to exist. ‘In order to be truly apparatus as having emotions towards him or
alive, images … need a subject to unite with her. However, these machines only take and
them. This creates spectres chasing the human’ don’t give anything besides their function as
(Agamben 2011: 78). Spectres, being our own tool. The same goes for smartphones , tablets,
images and our reflections, are chasing us and so forth. The consumer relates to this
and limiting our subjectivity by absorbing it. device, thanks to its smart design and physical

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 connection through touchscreens, ‘swiping’ and real, effacing its traces and creating an auto-
facial and vocal recognition technologies. The referential system, a distortion of reality that
most sophisticated tablets and smartphones are claims to be real and hides its ontology. In M,
full screens, without numeric pads or keyboards. a reflection, we become acutely aware of that.
They are only interface and the consumer can
interact immediately, forgetting that it is an
V I RT U A L D RA M AT U RG Y: M A N AG I N G
interface – think of people not only filming
T H E A P PA RAT U S
events with their tablet, but also watching
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it through this frame. The same kind of The functioning of Verdonck’s virtual machine
immediacy is at work and likewise, a projection is reminiscent of the concept of the apparatus
of emotions is at stake with the virtual actor as Agamben formulated it. He has expanded the
in M, a reflection. The projection is neither real scope of Foucault’s concept of the apparatus
nor live; it is only there because an audience (1980 :194) to include not only concrete devices
believes it is present and hence acquires the but also larger systems such as ideology.
status of ‘liveness’. In evoking an intermediate Moreover, Agamben considers the apparatus
state between ‘real’ and ‘virtual’, Verdonck has one of two ontological categories at play in the
the spectator accept the ambiguity, an idea that creation and development of a third ontological
resonates with the habituation of the spectator category: the subject. The apparatus’
to the projected image during the performance, interaction with the living being (as biological
rendering the virtual real. The eye gets used to basis) – the other ontological category –
the virtual and no longer discerns it from the cultivates the being’s subject. The creation of
real. This is facilitated strongly by the theatrical the subject is thus the result of an interaction
frame, which triggers anticipations of narrative, of the human being with apparatuses; i.e.
presence, and liveness. The question of presence the apparatus becomes a subjectifying
suggests that the perception of reality does element. Agamben points at two evolutions
not require reality as such. As I have stated in the workings of the apparatus in late-
before, virtual reality is capable of replacing the capitalist times. Besides a wide proliferation

■■Figure 6: These two

windmills were long the
image that was used to
promote the performance.
During a storm in Scotland,
a windmill turned 180
degrees, coming to face
another windmill behind it.
This image suggests the
confrontation between two
identical machines, human
and the virtual, and the
violence that goes with it.

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 of apparatuses, he sees the apparatus mainly constructs as well. In the performance’s last
becoming a desubjectifying thing (Agamben scene, a magnified projection of a dismembered
2009: 15). The apparatus that used to shape Johan Leysen performs ‘Nachtstück’ (Night
and grow the subject now only planes down piece). The magic is gone, but the text suggests
its subjectivity, literally annihilating it. that the difference between the puppet and the
Virtuality, belonging to this ‘new’ typology of human can no longer be made. Auto-mutilation
apparatuses, thus not only reduces reality, but is what follows, creating a dismembered, blind
also the subject (Agamben 2009: 21). Taking and gagged body. Helpless as a child, this blind,
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Žižek’s analysis into account, another curious mute and paralysed being is what remains of
consequence takes place. The virtual apparatus, the real when the virtual takes over.
that is, the double, gains freedom and develops ‘Nachtstück’s’ last sentence suggests the
itself in a plane of simulation. The trichotomy possibility of a rebirth, however, through
of living being, apparatus and subject is out of failure: ‘The mouth originates from the
balance, with severe consequences for the two scream.’ This is an interesting dénouement that
‘losing’ categories. can be seen as a rebirth despite of the
However, Agamben also suggests that there restrictions in the virtual.
are new opportunities for liberty lurking behind During M, a reflection’s tour the performance
these new technological, economic and kept changing. Of course, this should be no
political evolutions. He considers destruction surprise, as every performance ‘grows’ in its
an opportunity for construction. The lifespan. In M, a reflection, it is remarkable,
destruction of the subject by the apparatus of because half of the performance was considered
its virtual double creates a crisis of the subject to be fixed by the video format. However, while
that may allow a radical turn (Agamben 2007: touring, the technological constellation was
65). The subject in crisis might open up to perceived differently over the course of time. In
encounter the ‘other’. That is why we might Johan Leysen’s words, he got to know his virtual
regard the desubjectifying aspect of the counterpart better and could even influence the
apparatus simultaneously as a curse and as a impact of the virtual image. The influence on
promise. It holds a promise because it might the (perception of the) video part comes thus
give rise to a relational identity. In that sense, from the live actor on stage, who can change 2
In his observation on
new opportunities emerge from the ruins of his tone and rhythm and in this way changes dephtlessness and the
disrupted identities, from decaying national the perception of his virtual antagonist. It can waning of affect, Jameson
stresses the fact that the
dreams, a new form of life is emerging from the be compared to the Kuleshov effect in film, cultural products of the
interstices of technologies and disrupted considered to prove the affect of montage on postmodern era are not
utterly devoid of feelings,
subjectivities.2 Translating this to the political the perception of images. When the same image emotions and anxieties.
and economical spheres, one could say that the of a character is alternated with other images Rather, “such feelings –
which it may be better and
crisis in these realms might as well be that suggest a certain atmosphere, the character more accurate to call
beneficial in the end. Through a profound in turn acquires an evil, kind, sad or happy ‘intensities’ – are now
free-floating and
understanding of the virtual, but also of the look. By gaining experience with the virtual impersonal” (Jameson
real, humanity could come to terms with its apparatus, Johan Leysen succeeded in exerting 2004: 200). Such feelings
have been scattered, as the
history and future. Müller himself was obsessed an influence on the subsequent ‘reading’ of the subject itself has been. For
with history and the dead especially for this virtual image. The fact that the virtual needs the double poetics in the
reason. ‘Necrophilia’, he used to say, ‘is love for to be linked to a real subject in order to ‘exist’, popular image, see also
Stalpaert 2012.
the future’ (Müller cited in Kalb 1998: 15). In provides us with new opportunities in managing
making the apparatus visible by creating a the apparatus and in relating to technologies.
‘dialectics at a standstill’ in which the cracks in If technology continues to improve, and
reality and virtuality as well as in history and projection techniques are optimized, the actor
power structures get the time to come to the may become superfluous, one might project.
foreground, M, a reflection destructs and This dystopic view of our current ‘digitally

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 engaged world’ in relation to theatre merely Agamben, Giorgio (2011) ‘Nymphs’, in Robert Mitchel, and
looks at the redundant effect of the virtual Jacques Khalip (eds) Releasing the Image, from Literature
to New Media, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press,
on the real, however. Apart from his critique
pp. 60–80.
on the lack of depth in the digital world,
Badiou, Alain (2007) The Century, trans. Toscano, Alberto,
Verdonck also points at the possibility of the Cambridge (UK): Polity Press.
actor’s creative montage through relating Badiou, Alain (2011), ‘The democratic emblem’, in Giorgio
with the virtual apparatus – a montrage so to Agamben, Alain Badiou et al. Democracy: In what state?,
speak. Taking the objectification of the actor New York, NY: Columbia University Press, pp. 6–15.
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a step further, reducing him to something Benjamin, Walter (1999 [1935]), The Arcades Project, trans.
that cannot be distinguished from a virtual Eiland H and McLaughlin K., Tiedeman, R. ed., Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
‘fake’, the actor-becoming-thing might play
Broadhurst, Susan and Josephine Machon (eds.) (2012),
with the apparatus’ own faculties and relate to Identity, Performance and Technology: Practices of
technologies differently. empowerment, embodiment and technicity, New York, NY:
Does human have to become-thing in order Palgrave Macmillan.
to manage the objectifying virtual apparatus? Causey, Matthew (2007) Theatre and Performance in
This is a question that also recurs throughout Digital Culture: From Simulation to Embeddedness, London:
Routledge.
Verdonck’s oeuvre. Blurring the boundaries
Deleuze, Gilles and Félix Guattari (1972) L’Anti-OEdipe,
between the virtual and the real, subjectifying
Paris, Les Editions de Minuit.
the object and objectifying the subject, M,
Deleuze, Gilles (2004) Difference and Repetition, trans. Paul
a reflection offers a firm critique of humanism Patton, London: Continuum.
and anthropocentrism. New technologies are
Foucault, Michel (1980) ‘Confessions of the flesh’, in Colin
changing our world, but also force us the face Gordon (ed.), Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and
the axioms of our society, axioms that might Other Writings,New York, NY: Prentice Hall, pp. 194–228.
need revision in light of society’s evolution. Jameson, Fredric (2004) ‘Postmodernism, Or the Cultural
The influence of technology on everyday life Logic of Late Capitalism’, in Michael Hardt and Kathi
– just like the environment’s growing impact Weeks (eds.), The Jameson Reader, Malden: Blackwell
Publishers, pp. 188–232.
– demands a new relation between man and
Kalb, Jonathan (1998) The theatre of Heiner Müller,
his world, implying maybe a more humble Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
position for humans. Or, as Müller put it in
Lehmann, Hans-Thies (2006) Postdramatic Theatre, trans.
‘Hamletmachine’: K. Jürs-Munby, London and New York: Routledge.
I break open my sealed flesh. I want to live Mouffe, Chantal (1988) ‘Radical Democracy: modern or
in my veins, in the marrow of my bones, in the postmodern?’, in Andrew Ross (ed.) Universal abandon?
labyrinth of my skull. I retreat into my entrails. The politics of post-modernism, Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, pp. 31–45.
My place is in my shit, in my blood. Somewhere
bodies are being broken, so that I can live in my Müller, Heiner (1995) Theatermachine, trans. Marc von
Henning, London: Faber and Faber Limited.
shit. Somewhere bodies are being opened, so
Müller, Heiner (1990) Last Voyage, trans. Marcel Otten,
that I can be alone with my blood. My thoughts Amsterdam: International theatre and film books.
are wounds in my head. My brain is a scar. Stalpaert, Christel (2012) ‘The Double Poetics of Popular
I want to be a machine. Arms to grab legs to Images’, in Martina Gross and Hans-Thies Lehmann (eds.),
walk no pain no thinking. (1995: 93) Populärkultur im Gegenwartstheater, Berlin, Theater der
Zeit, pp. 169–183.
REFERENCES Virilio, Paul (2008) Negative Horizon, trans. M. Degener,
London and New York, NY: Continuum.
Agamben, Giorgio (2007) The coming community,
trans. Michael Hardt, Minneapolis, MN: University of Žižek, Slavoj and Mladen, Dolar (2002) Opera’s Second
Minnesota Press. Death, London: Routledge.
Agamben, Giorgio (2009) What is an Apparatus? And Other Zummer, Thomas (2012) ‘ … Méduisante …’,
Essays, trans. David Kishik and Stefan Pedatella, Stanford unpublished article.
(CA): Stanford University Press.

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