Stephanie Cottle headed to the closing show of Lancashire Fringe, a festival that has been given a massive boost to its creative writers, actors and performers. One of them is Louise Orwin who reflected on her own social media use in a show blending performance art and live streaming.
I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve always struggled with social media. Even growing up in the boom of the MySpace era, my online presence was pitiful. Unfortunately I wasn’t an edgy and alternative hipster before her time, we just couldn’t always afford an internet connection at home. I’d be watching T4 reruns whilst my friends had what I imagined to be some huge virtual party. Now, all grown up and with 24 hour access to the ball, this Cyberella just gets overwhelmed.
I’m not the only millennial to have the fear, as Louise Orwin proved in her Lancashire Fringe performance of Famehungry. Brought to the UCLan Media Factory for after glowing reviews from Edinburgh Fringe, the 37 year old gave out a slice of her experience as a TikTok user. Using a blend of performance art and live streaming (shown to the live audience via projection) Orwin was ready to be seen. No bad thing when you live in what some refer to as an ‘attention economy’.
At the beginning of the show both live and online audiences were given a promise, if the stream reached 20k likes (the capacity of the O2 arena) Louise WOULD DO SOMETHING AMAZING. Scattered on stage was all the equipment needed to create good looking content; ring lights, gimbals, even motion detectors. Set up slay. There were other objects onstage too, a television with pink wigs adorning the corners, a pink suede rug, an enormous pink teddy bear clutching a strawberry Yazoo in its slowly glowing abdomen.
Orwin has learned how to gather attention online, having spent 4 years of research and collaboration creating the show. She’s had help from her mentor Jax, a 20 year old with a substantial follower count, who virtually joined Orwin on stage to help her reach her like count. To reach the goal she needed to give TikTok what it loves; dancing, repetitive actions and most importantly, hearing about itself. The catch she faces is that TikTok has dislikes too; talking about capitalism, showing violence, being too sexy. Oh, she obviously wasn’t allowed to say mean things about TikTok either.
It’s a game, or a toxic relationship idk.
Chaotic, hilarious and questionable, how Orwin entertained throughout Famehungry reflected the times I’ve spent scrolling through reel oblivion. I found it extremely watchable, often retable and packed full of honest and beautiful sentiment. I also found it so annoying that occasionally it veered into unbearable. Sounds like the internet to me.
Having no experience in TikTok I’d be totally delulu if I tried to make out I got all of the references in this show, but Orwin painted a pretty good picture. For better or worse some want to watch and some yearn to be seen. TikTok provides a huge space for that to happen, it connects us. I do have to remember that not everyone has access to explore these platforms though. Our online existential crisis exists only alongside level of privilege. Through a haze of little floating heart reactions, that stark reminder came into focus.
Louise Orwin’s Famehungry closed the Lancashire Fringe Festival with apocalyptic force. The end is coming, but we hope to see plenty more from Enjoy the Show. Speaking to Blackpool Social Club Garry Cook, commented on the success of this years Lancashire Fringe.
“The festival exceeded its aims in relation to attendances – the biggest audiences we’ve had at several venues. Even the experimental events – at the bus station and Poet’s Pub Tour were hugely successful in terms of audiences and participation.
“To have over 100 people turn up for a live art show – Famehungry – is amazing. But there were a similar number of people who turned up for two new theatre pieces by Lancashire writers – that was equally satisfying.
“The number of new commissions in the festival means that Lancashire has been given a massive boost to its creative writers, actors and performers – this is crucial for local arts and one of the most important parts of this festival. At this point I’ve no idea if the festival will happen next year – it depends on if a funding bid is submitted, and then if it is successful.”
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