Skip to main content
NSDF Logo NSDF
Donate
What's On
NSDF HUB
What We Do
What We Do
What is NSDF all about?
NSDF HUB NSDF CREATES Access Toolkit How to Enter a Show Our Yearly Festival The Bigger Room Project
Support Us
Support Us
How can you support NSDF's work?
Alumni Supporters Scheme Our Supporters Make a Donation Leave a Legacy
Our Story
Our Story
Find out more about the 65 year old Festival.
Our Mission Our History Our Principles Our People Our Alumni
The Fourth Wall
The Fourth Wall
Read articles from Noises Off, our Festival Magazine, and catch the latest from Team NSDF at Blogs & News
Blogs & News Noises Off
Register
Noises Off Article

Part-time participant

Published on
30th March 2021

The Zoom festival is lagging for Imogen Usherwood

Share this article

It’s 11:59am. I press pause on the recorded lecture from last term that I’m catching up on (it’s taken me nearly an hour to watch the first thirty minutes), and go into my laptop’s calendar. I dutifully click the midday Zoom link and sit back as the waiting room window appears. When I’m let in, I’ll always check I’m muted, just in case my dog decides to bark or a family member calls my name. A little under half of the attendees will turn their cameras on, a few rows of faces boxed into tiny Zoom squares, with bookshelves, beds or doorways behind them. The rest are just names, hidden observers.

This is the dilemma – my decision whether to turn on my camera is the main factor in my engagement with the next hour. When I’m feeling particularly motivated or confident, I’ll show my face, nod attentively, earnestly take notes. But, more likely, I’m sitting at my desk wearing my oldest, comfiest hoodie, hair tied up and glasses slipping down my nose. Camera stays off. Zoom has made me – and so many others – into a part-time attendee. I go to a lot more workshops, sessions and performances (not least because NSDF provides a rigorous timetable of them), but my participation risks declining with each one.

It goes beyond workshops, and even beyond NSDF, of course. Since theatre made its necessary shift online, I’ve struggled with my attention span during creative events or performances. I can’t watch a livestream or recorded show without looking at my phone every so often, or an online workshop without keeping Twitter open on the other tab. Even when I am absorbed, taking in every little detail or writing down every piece of advice, I can’t sustain it for long. I think it’s the product of a few factors – my bedroom isn’t quite the same venue as a theatre, and excessive screen time is the bane of everyone’s sanity and sleeping pattern. Most importantly, though, my mind starts to wander simply because it can – I wouldn’t dream of touching my phone during live theatre, but in my living room, when the performers can be paused and rewound, it’s frustratingly easy to let my gaze drift towards my Instagram feed. 

Digital platforms have brought light to us during these dark times, but I’m craving a return to the analogue. Put me in a workshop room where I have to leave my phone at the door, or save me a seat in a darkened auditorium. The voiceover asking us to turn off all electronic devices can’t come soon enough.

-

@noffmag / [javascript protected email address]

Latest from Noises Off

Latest from Noises Off

See all
NSDF 2022

Powerful discomfort

14th May 2022

Nathan Hardie on the confronting NSDF Late show MANIC

Read More
NSDF 2022

To meet us here

15th April 2022

Taiwo Ava Oyebola interrogates the history and heritage of Them

Read More
NSDF 2022

Up down up down

15th April 2022

Zoe Callow gets to grips with the staging of Great Mother - Iya Ayaba

Read More

Sign-up to our newsletter

Sign-up for our newsletter
Follow us
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube
Contact Us Frequently Asked Questions Young Person Protection Policy Website Accessibility Privacy Policy
© NSDF Site by Grandad.digital
Sign-up to our newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter to stay up to date on all our upcoming events, information and news. Read our Privacy Policy to learn more about how we process your data.