“If you take me to 20,000 likes, I will do something great.”
That is what the performance artist Louise Orwin promises the audience in 'Famehungry', an existential crisis in Tiktok about an entertainer in the digital age. Presented for a live crowd, it is also worked out in the app at the same time.
In Wednesday's show, Orwin performed tasks, inspired by what she has seen on Tiktok Live: eating in front of the camera, running on a treadmill, drinking a Stanley Tumbler and Tiktok dancing, all while she describes her career in performance art.
Whether the orwin antics would be seen by the public outside of Soho Playhouse, where “Famehungry” runs until 8 February after success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, this weekend was an open question because the app was briefly forbidden in the United States.
“The danger in terms of the practical way of the show is not great, but the feeling of political danger surrounding the ban is also really interesting for work,” said Orwin. “It's a strange situation to be in.”
The congress adopted legislation last year to prohibit TIKTOK, unless it was sold to a buyer approved by the government, referring to concern that the Chinese government could access sensitive user data and manipulate content on the app that is owned From the Chinese companybytedance.
After the Supreme Court had confirmed the law last week, Tiktok briefly became dark before many users flickered back to life when the incoming president, Donald J. Trump, indicated the support for the app. (After Trump's inauguration on Monday, he signed an executive order that held the ban for 75 days.)
For many, what eventually became an interruption was a joke. But the legal status of the app is cloudy and Orwin is one of the users who still has no access to Tiktok. The production managed a solution with a VPN service, but live stream commentators noted that the electricity was sometimes Laggy.
The starting point of “Famehungry” – Orwin is accompanied by a Tiktok user who acts as a guide for the hectic universe of the app – also offers a rapid history of the origin of the show.
In 2020, Orwin worked in a Youth Theater therapy project when she met Jax Valentine, who was 15 and had around 30,000 taps -followers -no guarantee for celebrity on an app driven by trends spread over many accounts. But for Orwin, an artist who saw the opportunities dry up during the Coronavirus Pandemia, 30,000 people who looked at work were incredible.
'I had lost all my audience, “she said. “I had actually lost all my income. And here was a 15-year-old who had access to a supporter and earned money with the app. “
Orwin was reminiscent of developing a show around Tiktok. Valentine, who is now 21 with 80,000 Tiktok -followers, calls the theater almost from their bedroom in Sheffield, England, and coaches Orwin about how successful in the app.
A projected screen behind Orwin shows the Tiktok live stream, with live comments from online users, and writing that only the internal audience can see. While Orwin repeatedly giggles in the camera of mobile phones, text she wrote on the screen flashes: “Because of this I want to remove my eyeballs.”
An aspect of the performance of Orwin is whether Tiktok will eliminate its live stream for the violation of community guidelines. In the show of Wednesday, two of her accounts were closed for sexual content because of a cucumber on the screen and later a vague Fallic Lolly. Orwin switched to Backup accounts in real time.
“It is interesting who censors and is not censored,” said Vania Myers, who viewed the show during the opening evening.
The 'something great' that Orwin promised – she follows by the question of whether the live stream reaches 20,000 likes – includes a song and a final debasing act. While the audience reacts, often with laughter or applause, the projection of Valentine on the wall looks quietly at the crowd.
Although the show indicates that many of the pitfalls of Tiktok, Orwin and Valentine emphasized that there is no easy moral judgment to make a platform with both tangible benefits and real disadvantages. For Valentine, the app has been a tool to build self -respect, but also a place where they saw their “thirst traps” perform better when they were not an adult yet.
“We don't want someone to just leave the show and go home and say,” Tiktok is terrible, “Valentine said.” We want people to leave it and say, “Ok, that's rough. What is the nuance around it?” '
By the time of the final on Wednesday, the performance of Orwin had received more than 8,000 likes on Tiktok. But because the show had been stopped two accounts, the online audience was taken.
“I hope that the three people who looked at Tiktok liked that very much,” said Orwin in the last moments.
User33613021887 responded on the screen: “I thought it was great.”
