Hack the Theatre

A New Concept

During Aprilfestival 2017, held in Sønderborg, Teatercentrum launched their new concept: ‘Hack the Theatre’.

‘Hack the Theatre’, a part of Denmark’s participation in the TEEN project, is an exploratory workshop concept that encourages Teenagers to ‘hack’ Theatre performances. In this context, a ‘hack’ is defined as a comment or a small alteration to the existing format of the Theatre production. The purpose of ‘Hack the Theatre’ workshops is to create new opportunities for dialogue between Teenagers and Creative Professionals & Artists, and to explore how Teenagers engage in Theatre experiences.

In this way, ‘Hack the Theatre’ allows Teenager Theatre ‘Hackers’ to use an interactive method of Theatre criticism that gives them new ways to comment on a Performing Arts experience. The difference between a ‘hack’ and a review was something that was very clearly explored during the Aprilfestival workshops. It was explained that a review is a comment that you ‘send out’ so that others can learned about what you have experienced, whereas a hack is a comment you ‘send back’ to the Theatre, thereby starting a dialogue between the Teenagers and Theatre professionals.

The first ‘Hack the Theatre’ workshops were developed by Teatercentrum (Denmark) in collaboration with AKTØR, DATS and Matthew Reason, Professor of Theatre and Performance in the Faculty of Arts at York St John University.