The Seagull NYTW on Sims 4/Twitch

[cjmclaughlin10]

Did anyone watch parts 1 and 2 last night. It certainly sounds like a new concept, so Im curious to hear reports

"PLAY WITH LIFE: The Sims 4 is the life simulation game that gives you the power to create and control people. Experience the creativity, humor, escape, and the freedom to play with life in The Sims 4. " Product Description from EA Games

"Twitch is the world's leading live streaming platform for gamers and the things we love. Watch and chat now with millions of other fans from around the world." Twitch.tv

"The Seagull (Russian: , romanized: Chayka) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. The Seagull is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays." Wikipedia.org

When it first premiered, The Seagull was a famous failure, the audience unfamiliar with ideas of subtext and subtlety that Chekhov was experimenting with and preferring the more conventional melodrama of the 19th century. It has gone on to become one of the most recognizable titles in Western drama. Artist Celine Song (playwright of Endlings) attempts to reenact the classic text on 21st century videogame Sims 4 via Twitch. Join us for a durational installation art piece that explores the newly emerging popular form of liveand interactiveperformance.

[Jordan Catalano]

wut

[JBroadway]

I watched the first half last night, and plan to watch the 2nd part tonight. My attention wavered in and out (which I think the format welcomes), but overall I found it really fascinating. 

It's not really meant to be a "version of The Seagull" as much as it's an experimental deconstruction/reconstruction of the play's dramaturgy, via The Sims. There are lots of interesting thematic connections that arise from the various things that naturally go wrong, and the things that accidentally go right, and the look at the mundane moments of daily life. It's kind of stripping down of the Seagull down to its bare human motives. That's the intellectual answer anyway - on top of all that, it's also fun and silly, and the novelty of it is entertaining.