Why has Time Out chosen Dante or Die’s User Not Found as one of its Top Theatre Picks for May? The raves that Time Out‘s Andrzej Lukowski and so many other critics gave the show when it was first seen at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe gives a strong indication. We’ve rounded up our favourite review highlights below. The two-week-only London run begins this Friday – time to get booking!
User Not Found, which examines what happens to our digital identities after we die, runs at The CoffeeWorks Project next to Battersea Power Station from 17 May to 2 June 2019, in partnership with Nine Elms on the South Bank, in association with Battersea Arts Centre. Created by site-specific specialists Dante or Die, this ground-breaking theatrical experience is written by Chris Goode, directed by Daphna Attias and performed by Terry O’Donovan.
It’s the moment of your death.
There’s a magic button.
Do you delete your entire online legacy?
Or do you keep it – and leave the choice for someone else?
Terry and Luka were together for nine years until Luka left Terry. Then Luka died leaving Terry as his online legacy executor.
Through smartphones and headphones, the audience is immersed in one man’s story as he is faced with keeping or deleting. In a rapidly changing digital age, a story of contemporary grief unfolds through this intimate, funny performance that gently interrogates our need for connection and the fate of our digital afterlives.
User Not Found runs from 17 May to 2 June 2019 at The CoffeeWorks Project, Circus West Village, Road West, Battersea, London SW11 8EZ, with performances at various times. Tickets are priced £15-£20. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE!
Review highlights
Andrzej Lukowski: “A raw and magnetic performance… a gorgeous show about grief in the era of hyper-connectivity.”
Kate Wyver: “Grappling with both the comfort and toxicity of social media, Chris Goode’s show for Dante or Die is a tender, intimate story of love and letting go.”
David Kettle: “User Not Found is a poignant, thoughtful show, and Chris Goode’s exquisitely rendered script paints a tender picture of lost love and reluctant but inevitable grief.”
Tim Bano: “Chris Goode’s play is a beautifully human story about the impact of technology on grief… It feels like a privilege to listen to and watch Terry O’Donovan so intimately.”
Katie Hawthorne: “There is surreal magic in the seemingly everyday details of this expertly crafted show… they light the room with the power of tactile, human connection.”
Sarah Crompton: “The cleverness of the telling, directed with intimate care by Daphna Attias, is that Terry is close to us, his emotions raw as he moves around the tables, telling his story.”
Emily Jupp: “When you’re gone, what will happen to the ‘you’ that exits on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn? … Fuses flights of magical realism with the reality of grief and bereavement in the digital age.”
Stephen Bates: “Terry O’Donovan’s deeply emotional performance generates an ethereal experience of astonishing power
Amy Hanson: “This production is what theatre in 2019 should be – ambitious, contemporary and thought-provoking.”
Matt Trueman: “It’s a reflective piece about dealing with death and living online – two different kinds of absence wrapped up in one.”
Joseph Winer: “The warmth, commitment and presence of O’Donovan keep us firmly engaged from start to finish.”
Tabitha Jones: “Touchingly dealing with grief in a modern age and how we confront our feelings for those who have gone, User Not Found is a fantastic piece of site-specific theatre and a wonderful addition to the Fringe programme.”
Edinburgh Festivals – ★★★★
“This site-specific play by Chris Goode uses headphones and smartphones to explore the digital legacy of someone who has died… It is exciting to see theatre that is willing to ask the big questions on such a human scale.”
Lyn Gardner: “Written with a chatty poetic restraint by Chris Goode, this show is a beautiful dance of love, death and grief delivered via a single live performer (the phenomenal Terry O’Donovan), headphones and mobile phones.”
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