Jennifer Haley's The Nether / VR vs RLd
Have any of you watched or read Jennifer Haley’s play The Nether? It’s being played all over the world (Washington, Philadelphia, Munich and Bergen right now, LA, NYC and London a few months ago, no doubt elsewhere too) and is about the relationship between virtual worlds and RL, set in a near future where the world is horrible (no trees etc) and a lot of people spend most of their time in a VR world. I found a PDF of the manuscript here. It’s a fast read. http://www.playsandplayers.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/THE-NETHER-8.9.11.... Reading reviews and the blurb I first thought it was going to be just another “virtual worlds are sick pornographic dens of pedophilia and nothing else) but that as I read the manuscript I found really quite fascinating. The NY Times review emphasises “the dark side of the web” and certainly the pedophilia thing is strongly emphasised in the marketing of the play. Reading the manuscript through to the end I don’t have that takeaway. (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/25/theater/review-jennifer-haleys-the-nether-...) I’d love to hear what others think about it - it gets SO much more interesting towards the end but I’m a bit loathe to give spoilers. The reviews I’ve read all seem to fall into the “virtual is bad” trap, which is odd given the last third of the play. Of course, I haven’t yet seen it on stage. It’s premiering here in Bergen tomorrow and I’ve been invited to give a talk about VR at the theatre at noon tomorrow, and they gave me tickets to the dress rehearsal tonight - will be interesting to see how they slant it. Jill
Hi Jill, I watched it when it was first staged in London last year (or the year before??), and wanted my students to read the script as it was so nuanced and interesting. Thanks for sharing and for reminding me of how much I liked the play. The London staging was amazing as well, with a set of stages within stages that the actors moved in between. I found it moving, sad, but also extremely thought-provoking. Look forward to hearing your responses after you see it staged. best, alison. On 15/04/2016 11:47, Jill Walker Rettberg wrote:
Have any of you watched or read Jennifer Haley’s play The Nether?
It’s being played all over the world (Washington, Philadelphia, Munich and Bergen right now, LA, NYC and London a few months ago, no doubt elsewhere too) and is about the relationship between virtual worlds and RL, set in a near future where the world is horrible (no trees etc) and a lot of people spend most of their time in a VR world.
I found a PDF of the manuscript here. It’s a fast read. http://www.playsandplayers.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/THE-NETHER-8.9.11....
Reading reviews and the blurb I first thought it was going to be just another “virtual worlds are sick pornographic dens of pedophilia and nothing else) but that as I read the manuscript I found really quite fascinating. The NY Times review emphasises “the dark side of the web” and certainly the pedophilia thing is strongly emphasised in the marketing of the play. Reading the manuscript through to the end I don’t have that takeaway. (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/25/theater/review-jennifer-haleys-the-nether-...)
I’d love to hear what others think about it - it gets SO much more interesting towards the end but I’m a bit loathe to give spoilers.
The reviews I’ve read all seem to fall into the “virtual is bad” trap, which is odd given the last third of the play. Of course, I haven’t yet seen it on stage. It’s premiering here in Bergen tomorrow and I’ve been invited to give a talk about VR at the theatre at noon tomorrow, and they gave me tickets to the dress rehearsal tonight - will be interesting to see how they slant it.
Jill _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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-- Dr Alison Powell Assistant Professor Director of MSc Media and Communication (Data & Society) London School of Economics Tower 3, 701.J, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE a.powell@lse.ac.uk Twitter: @a_b_powell
Jill and Alison, Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention. This is the perfect fit for a course I am teaching next Fall. I am teaching a writing course that focuses on virtual reality, and hope to use Forester's "The Machine Stops," Anderson's *FEED, *and Cline's "Ready Player One." Has anyone taught a similar course? If you have suggestions on short readings about VR I would really appreciate the recommendations. I wonder - have either of you read R.U.R by Capek <http://www.amazon.com/R-U-R-Rossums-Universal-Penguin-Classics/dp/0141182083>? It is my understanding that this is the play that coined term "robot." I also teach this text and would love to hear how others have approached it in a classroom setting. Thanks again, Amanda Amanda Licastro Assistant Professor of Digital Rhetoric, Stevenson University Doctoral Student, The Graduate Center, CUNY http://digitocentrism.commons.gc.cuny.edu/ @amandalicastro On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 6:50 AM, Alison Powell <a.powell@lse.ac.uk> wrote:
Hi Jill,
I watched it when it was first staged in London last year (or the year before??), and wanted my students to read the script as it was so nuanced and interesting. Thanks for sharing and for reminding me of how much I liked the play. The London staging was amazing as well, with a set of stages within stages that the actors moved in between.
I found it moving, sad, but also extremely thought-provoking.
Look forward to hearing your responses after you see it staged.
best,
alison.
On 15/04/2016 11:47, Jill Walker Rettberg wrote:
Have any of you watched or read Jennifer Haley’s play The Nether?
It’s being played all over the world (Washington, Philadelphia, Munich and Bergen right now, LA, NYC and London a few months ago, no doubt elsewhere too) and is about the relationship between virtual worlds and RL, set in a near future where the world is horrible (no trees etc) and a lot of people spend most of their time in a VR world.
I found a PDF of the manuscript here. It’s a fast read.
http://www.playsandplayers.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/THE-NETHER-8.9.11....
Reading reviews and the blurb I first thought it was going to be just
another “virtual worlds are sick pornographic dens of pedophilia and nothing else) but that as I read the manuscript I found really quite fascinating. The NY Times review emphasises “the dark side of the web” and certainly the pedophilia thing is strongly emphasised in the marketing of the play. Reading the manuscript through to the end I don’t have that takeaway. ( http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/25/theater/review-jennifer-haleys-the-nether-... )
I’d love to hear what others think about it - it gets SO much more
interesting towards the end but I’m a bit loathe to give spoilers.
The reviews I’ve read all seem to fall into the “virtual is bad” trap,
which is odd given the last third of the play. Of course, I haven’t yet seen it on stage. It’s premiering here in Bergen tomorrow and I’ve been invited to give a talk about VR at the theatre at noon tomorrow, and they gave me tickets to the dress rehearsal tonight - will be interesting to see how they slant it.
Jill _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at:
http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- Dr Alison Powell Assistant Professor Director of MSc Media and Communication (Data & Society) London School of Economics Tower 3, 701.J, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE a.powell@lse.ac.uk Twitter: @a_b_powell
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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participants (3)
-
Alison Powell -
Amanda Licastro -
Jill Walker Rettberg