10/19/21 Sarah Ellis

In conversation (online) with:

Sarah Ellis

Tuesday | October 19, 2021 | 12PM – 1:30PM EST

Watch the lecture.

DREAM – Collective Creation, Audiences of the Future and Pandemic Pivoting

From candlelight to Pepper’s ghost, the printing press to the internet, theatre has always used the newest technologies to tell and share its stories. The tools that have developed over the past 400 years have been critical to enabling Shakespeare’s plays to be performed, reimagined and reinterpreted for diverse audiences, keeping the form of presentation as perennially relevant as the content of his work. It’s in this spirit that the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has worked digitally over the past decade, expanding a theatre-making toolkit for their artists and audiences and achieving genuine creative innovation, global impact and value. This lecture will focus on the collaboration between creative practitioners, research organizations, and technology companies imagining the future of live performance through immersive technologies at the RSC. Director of Digital Development Sarah Ellis will share the process of research and development with this unique consortium, including how it pivoted in a pandemic to reimagine theatre with audiences in lockdown. 

Sarah Ellis is an award-winning producer currently working as Director of Digital Development for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) to explore new artistic initiatives and partnerships. The latest partnership for the RSC is the Audience of the Future Live Performance Demonstrator funded by Innovate UK – a consortium consisting of arts organizations, research partners and technology companies to explore the future of performances and real-time immersive experiences. She is a regular speaker and commentator on digital arts practice, as well as an Industry Champion for the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, which helps inform academic research on the creative industries to lead to better policies for the sector. She has been appointed Chair of digital agency, The Space, established by Arts Council England and the BBC to help promote digital engagement across the arts.