Hijacking the Familiar: Grief-Tech, Interactive Theatre and Granny Jackson
by Rachel Hare
We all leave a digital footprint when we die. Many of us also choose to post about people we miss on anniversaries or other special days, or to privately look back at photographs, messages and other digital mementos we have stored on our devices. But what is the effect of having memories backed up on memory cards? And how do we feel about more extreme forms of technological memorisation such as AI chatbots that talk back as our loved ones or virtual reality scenarios that could let us see them?
Big Telly’s unique immersive performance Granny Jackson’s Dead explores these questions and more. With humour and a light touch, it invites us to Granny Jackson’s wake and introduces us to a motley crew of her friends and relations. As part of this year’s Good Grief Weston in October, the installation will take place in the house of a local resident – who will star as Granny herself!
Big Telly’s artistic director, Zoë Seaton, describes the company’s productions as ‘hijacking the familiar’, ‘creating context where audience feels safe and therefore, they can be brave’. Granny Jackson’s Dead happens at a family home; however, the moments we might expect are interspersed with more surprising suggestions: ‘When you arrive at any other wake you might be offered a cup of tea or sandwiches. At this one, though, you will be invited to put on a VR headset and dance with Granny’.
Blurring the lines between audience and actor, the performance is shaped by the responses of the people who attend (while never pressurising anyone to participate if they’d prefer to just watch). It asks us to think about what we choose to keep and not keep after someone dies – and what is at stake in those decisions. Thursday and Friday evening audiences are also invited to a post-performance drink at the Fork ’n’ Ale to raise a glass to Granny (who was apparently quite the ‘wild ticket’) – and chat over any thoughts the show raised.
Granny Jackson’s Dead was developed as part of a collaboration between Big Telly (the longest established professional theatre company in Northern Ireland), Dr Eleanor O’Keeffe from the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), and staff from the Department of Art and Performance and the School of Digital Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). The Weston dates are part of a tour around the UK – which also has it sights set on New York.
To book your ticket to Granny Jackson’s Dead in Weston, visit: https://superculture.org.uk/listings/good-grief-weston-granny-jacksons-dead
If you’re interested to learn more about the intersections between technology and social good, you might like to listen to this audio recording (which features Big Telly’s Zoe Seaton and MMU’s Josh Edelman talking about Granny J): https://soundcloud.com/user-245837210/culture-collaboration-and-knowledge-exchange-technology-for-social-good-20-june-2024
