Rita Barbosa ‧ 2025 ‧ show
Bertie
BERTIE is an English-spoken VR theatre play where three performers meet in an abandoned video game. Thrown into an apocalyptic scenario, they embody avatars navigating a dying online multiplayer world.
Realizing that there is a strange NPC (non-playable character) with super-digital powers, the group unites with the common goal of getting rid of this character who, for unknown reasons, is stalking them. Various reasons will lead this group to want to inhabit that space and unmask the strange character who lives there…
Topics: age shaped by the techno-elite, the big-tech algorithms and surveillance, dataism, biases in AI, digital waste, techno-anxiety, the digital and the new forms of empathy, gaming communities, public spaces, neo human, neuro workers.
BERTIE is an English-spoken VR theatre play where three performers meet in an abandoned video game. Thrown into an apocalyptic scenario, they embody avatars navigating a dying online multiplayer world.
Realizing that there is a strange NPC (non-playable character) with super-digital powers, the group unites with the common goal of getting rid of this character who, for unknown reasons, is stalking them. Various reasons will lead this group to want to inhabit that space and unmask the strange character who lives there…
Topics: age shaped by the techno-elite, the big-tech algorithms and surveillance, dataism, biases in AI, digital waste, techno-anxiety, the digital and the new forms of empathy, gaming communities, public spaces, neo human, neuro workers.
artistic direction Rita Barbosa ‧ co-creation Maria Inês Marques, Rita Barbosa e Rui Lima ‧ original idea Jorge Quintela, Rui Lima e Rita Barbosa ‧ script João Abreu, Maria Inês Marques e Rita Barbosa ‧ script contibutions Maria Leite ‧ translation Luís Moreira ‧ performers June (João Abreu), Maria Leite e Catarina Campos Costa ‧ voice over Annie Kleinhesselink e Camila Kleinhes- selink Agante ‧ music and sound design Rui Lima e Sérgio Martins ‧ lighting designer Cárin Geada ‧ screenography Kerr Holden ‧ set design consulting and costumes Pedro Azevedo ‧ VR coordination and technical direction Fábio da Silva Fernandes ‧ VR development and streaming Rita Maia e Rodrigo Torres ‧ modeling and 3D animation André Silva e César Castro ‧ video, light and sound operation Francisco Campos e Bernardo Bourbon ‧ subtitles Patrícia Pimentel ‧ production Belisa Branças ‧ project management Pé de Cabra, Lda e el-Hey, Lda ‧ financial management António Selas ‧ financial sponsors República Portuguesa | Direção-Geral das Artes, Criatório 2022, Fundo Cultural SPA-AGECOP, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Fundação GDA ‧ co-production Teatro Municipal do Porto, Circuito – Serviço Educativo Braga Media Arts ‧ artistic co-production residency O Espaço do Tempo, co-production under the Artistic Residency Program 22/23 CAMPUS Paulo Cunha e Silva ‧ partners malavoadora, Palmilha Dentada, Casa Brava el-Hey ‧ special thanks António Selas, Rui Horta, Mauro Herrmínio, Marco da Silva Ferreira, José Capela, Filipe Agante, Sara Barbosa, Emília Lima, Jorge Lima, Buckley ‧
June 26 + 27, 9:30pm ‧ mala voadora (Porto)