In the chapters that follow his explanation of the project's theoretical foundation, Worthen discusses the use of live-feed video via three recent productions adapted from Shakespearean sources;examines the technologies (particularly smartphone apps) used to manage the texts of plays for both pedagogical and production purposes;analyzes contemporary performance spaces' definition and application of technological practices alleged to resemble those of Shakespeare's time;challenges the idea of immersive theater as a distinct theatrical technology by considering the recent immersive re-working of Macbeth, Punchdrunk's Sleep No More;and reflects on the ramifications of what he terms an "algorithmic" model, in which text (such as script) is considered to be an algorithm that generates a specific theater piece. Overall, Worthen's marriage of fundamental concepts from the philosophy of technology to wide-ranging theories from theater scholarship may require readers to arrive to his text with more knowledge of the latter than most scholars of technology typically cultivate;however, for those with a background in both subjects, Worthen's analysis suggests many exciting avenues of exploration—not only about technologies of dramatic theater in particular, but also in any area where technologies assist in representation or the creation of meaning. Aebischer divides her argument into three somewhat independent sections, in each of which she examines recent (2013–16) productions of the plays of early modern dramatists such as Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Middleton, mostly located in London, U.K. In the first third of the book, she uses two productions at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse to explore the affordances of the technologies of architecture and seating, demonstrating that different sightlines, in combination with the way performers use those sightlines, contribute to different social, political, and ethical meanings for different audience members.
Shakespeare, Technicity, Theatre by W. B. Worthen, and: Shakespeare, Spectatorship, and the Technologies of Performance by Pascale Aebischer (review)