Unsilent Mode
Unsilent Mode is a trilogy of works-in-progress that investigates how theatre might respond to audiences attuned to digital interfaces, haptic devices, and social platforms. The project traces how audience perception, relationality, and agency is shaped within these mediatized environments, then reconfigures these dynamics through theatre as a live and collective event. Across three volumes, developed through an iterative process, the project tests different encounter configurations: liveness and co-presence (2024), immersion and reciprocity (2025), and participation and collaboration (2026). It brings together collaborators from different parts of the world without requiring travel, alternating between physical and digital presence according to the site. In a shared hypermediated and networked space, autobiographical narratives are woven across locations, generating translocal resonances among geographical, political, and social contexts. The project also foregrounds performer–audience co-authorship to reveal structural asymmetries, cultivate intersubjectivity, and experiment with more sustainable forms of coexistence.
Kelvin Wong is a Malaysian theatremaker, producer, and educator. He was Resident Director at The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre and founded Theatresauce, a Kuala Lumpur-based director collective. He holds an MFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University, Chicago, and has taught at Sunway University, Malaysia. Kelvin is currently a third-year PhD candidate with the Universities of Exeter and Bristol, funded by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (SWWDTP). kw651@exeter.ac.uk