Theatre of Quarantine: "Liveness: Performance in a forcibly digitised culture"

“How does the average actor spend his days? Of course, it’s a wide range: from lying in bed, drinking, going to the hair-dresser, to the agent, filming, recording, reading, sometimes studying; even, latterly, toying a bit with politics. But whether his use of time is frivolous or earnest is beside the point: little that he does relates to his main preoccupation—not to stand still as an actor—which means not to stand still as a human being, which means work aimed at his artistic growth—and where can such work take place?” – The Empty Space, Peter Brook 

If we remove all those activities above that do not correspond with the current guidelines in social distancing, it appears the “actor” as Brook describes, is little different to us. And in answer to his question, that place is online. It’s a Youtube tutorial, it’s an Instagram live Q&A, or a streaming of a new performance model from your back bedroom, it’s a new line in merchandise, it’s creative avenues explored through alternate means that can be expressed and paid for by an audience at a distance.  

Given that my own practice as a performer & writer centres around research-as-performance surrounding queer, gender, & drag theories, and the relationships between these theories are of course deeply intricate and delicately nuanced, I will endeavour to explore the nature of quarantine performance through the lens of drag theory performance, as it sufficiently evidences the current needs to respond to these enforced restrictions on an art form, and can be seen to have embraced the nature of the virtual performance space.  

However, in view of my practice being still in its adolescence, and the exploration of those theories being borne out of an educational arena that for now is off-limits, I will of course return to explore how these restrictions affect educational routes to performance similarly.  

"The hyperreality of communication and of meaning. More real than real, that is how the real is abolished" – Baudrillard 

In coining the term mediatized (which Auslander expands upon in his book Liveness: Performance in a mediatized culture,) Baudrillard condemns the “media” as being removed from the real, seeking only to replicate it. However, when faced with extreme circumstances this apparent replication appears as comfort to those facing something very real, as the consumer. Or as the performer, the “real” becomes realised. That which is mediatized becomes the only option for performance to progress, evolve and ultimately exist. 

“if television once could be seen as ranking among a number of vehicles for conveying expression or information from which we could choose, we no longer have that choice: the televisual has become an intrinsic and determining element of our cultural formation” – Auslander (Liveness: Performance in a Mediatized Culture) 

Forced into alternate means of creating entertainment and supporting one’s own livelihood in troubled times, we have now seen in the drag community, the rise of initiatives such as Quaran-queens, Drag Digital, Queeriosity, the reliance upon Instagram live, IGTV, and payment methods such as Paypal & Venmo coming to the rescue. Not to mention OnlyFans & Patreon. 

In the first days & weeks of the quarantine, many of these performers were faced with the very real prospect of potential poverty, given that they were not at that time supported in any way by the government’s proposed plan to repay & support companies through this crisis, by means of either a small business loan, or by repaying them money spent on paying their staff while their businesses were closed. Neglecting to make any reference to those who were self-employed at that time, a lot of performers were naturally concerned that since their work spaces were quarantined and closed for the foreseeable future, how might they be expected to make their money? Without the use of the media, such as the internet, and specifically social media platforms, this might not have been possible. Many performers reached out, initially in the drag community, I had noticed many people reacting to the cancellation of DragCon LA for which many vendors had booked flights, accommodation, and purchased the necessary merchandise and stock with which to justify the trip to such a prestigious event in the drag community. Many of these small businesses, not to mention performers, were out of pocket, and lumbered with huge amounts of stock, that they then were forced to sell off at their own personal expense. Whether it be offering free shipping, or to offer deals on products so that they could at least make some of the money back on what they would be losing from not making the event. In the following weeks, with the closures of all public spaces, came the worry of drag performers themselves, frustrated that they may not be able to make ends meet for the coming months without their performance spaces. It became apparent that the only way to reach people, consumers, was to find a way to take their brand, their performance, and their personas, to the online media. And while it may have seemed much more difficult to imagine consumers flocking to an online event from the comfort of their own houses, it seems so far to have been a success.  

I have been exploring drag theory for some time, and with each new season of Ru Paul’s Drag Race, what I would refer to as the mainstream drag society, the face of drag evolves just a little more, and with the increased visibility, and more widespread acceptance of the art form, drag becomes more valid to a wider audience, translating more efficiently from screen to stage. The written world of drag theory expands gradually over time, as each new book on the subject is published, and naturally because of it’s infancy and it’s newfound place in society, (where I would argue that glam rock perhaps once stood), these publications quickly become outdated and by way of omission of details that come to fruition post-publication, new niches & sub-genres open up and allow for even more to be written on the subject. It really is a very exciting time to be writing as a drag theorist, and especially now, the time and place for drag has risen to the occasion and is evolving. Drag is so often, as we have seen from the stories of so many drag performers on drag race, borne out of a hard place. It comes from overcoming adversity and struggles, whether personal, emotional, or crises of identity, it is a form of expression that is unique to each performer that explores it, and in turn, themselves.  

I was keen to see how the drag community would once again overcome such a difficult set of circumstances, and so many have risen to the challenge, to translate their performance on the stage, to make it work for them creatively and financially online.