Digital Afterlives - New Verbatim Play Uses Words And Experiences Of Real People To Explore Death In A Digital Age

Carving in Ice Theatre is set to bring a unique and honest look at how we experience grief in today’s increasingly online world with new verbatim play, Digital Afterlives.

Constructed word-for-word from interviews with everyday New Zealanders, the play explores how we connect, remember, and honour loved ones through social media and other online platforms after they’ve passed.

“Every bereavement is different and everyone’s journey with loss is unique. Digital Afterlives explores how digital/online spaces might shape contemporary grief practices,” says the play's constructor and co-director Dr Missy Mooney.

Verbatim theatre is a form of documentary theatre in which the play’s script is edited together from the exact words spoken by people interviewed about a particular event or topic. Digital Afterlives emerged as a creative research output following a larger research project about digital afterlives, memorialisation, and emergent online remembrance practices.

Produced by Carving in Ice Theatre, Mooney joins forces with experienced director Gaye Poole. No stranger to verbatim theatre, Poole has been at the helm of several verbatim plays staged in Kirikiriroa including The Laramie Project (2006), Life Music (2016), and Hush: A Verbatim Play About Family Violence (2020). Teaming up as co-directors, Poole and Mooney guide 12 local actors as they prepare for the staged reading of Digital Afterlives scheduled at the Meteor in May.

Carving in Ice Theatre is the gold standard when it comes to staged readings, a form in which the actors are well rehearsed and very familiar with the play’s content but still have their scripts with them onstage.

Poole reflects that “a staged reading is the perfect medium for something like Digital Afterlives. The ‘ums’, ‘you knows’, repetitions and stutters that litter everyday speech can be challenging for actors to learn. The staged reading approach saves the actors a lot of memorisation and, more importantly, makes it easier for the actors to prioritise accuracy in their performance.”

Mooney adds, “This work isn’t just about entertainment and ‘putting on a show’. At its core, Digital Afterlives is focused on sharing real and relatable experiences of bereavement as faithfully as possible”.

Local actors, K-M Adams, Antony Aiono, Julianne Boyle, Kelsie Curtis, Nick Hall, Brad Jackson, Simon McArthur, Cecilia Mooney, Hannah Mooney, Missy Mooney, Kelly Petersen and Sash Rinaldi, will be voicing the 12 interview participants in Digital Afterlives.

Providing diverse perspectives and an exploration of digital practices’ intersection with kaupapa Māori, tikanga, and tangihanga, Digital Afterlives holds particular relevance for audiences in Aotearoa. Staged Readings of Digital Afterlives will run at The Meteor Theatre 22 - 24 May 2025 with 7pm performances.

More information and tickets can be found at themeteor.co.nz

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