Liquid Interactive has worked with Queensland Theatre Company (QTC) for nearly ten years to develop their website, as well as create other digital campaigns that promote a diverse range of productions. Most recently, we worked to launch QTC’s Pain of the Day blog as part of their Thom Pain (based on nothing) production. This proved to be a challenge as much as it provided a great digital opportunity.

A Pain to Reach
Described as ‘stand up existentialism’, the play has already been an underground hit in New York, London and Edinburgh. The one-man show, which gurgles with the grim humour and pain of life, also required attracting a complex target audience.

Part of a line up primarily catering to an audience of Under 30 Year Olds, QTC sought to attract a younger crowd. At the same time, they did not want to directly attract their mainstream patrons of a far older demographic, with more conventional lifestyles and interests.

Even within the younger target group though, the Thom Pain target audience was broken down further. In order to best appreciate the play, the theatre-goer was defined as having an understanding of existentialism or similarly themed theatre; thus this included:

• Theatre, arts, psychology and philosophy students
• Young creative industries professionals
• Somewhat elitist individuals
• Followers of other underground, cult social and cultural phenomenon

Put simply, those who have grown up with a critical, often skeptical, perspective of media and marketing…

The Pain of the Day
We understood that the target audience was challenging to reach and so, embraced it. A common insight into the group was that they were interested in engaging dialogue that challenged passive thought and social acceptance about everyday life.

Thom Pain too explores this and thus, we proposed to create a ‘Pain of the Day’ blog, where frequent posts from (not the real) Thom Pain would be made about everyday life and the inanity of humanity. Understanding that the cynical, thoughtful target audience likes to be given the opportunity to be heard, the audience are given this chance through the comment facility that the blogs provides.

Theatre 2.0?
Apologies for the use of a buzzword, but through the format of a blog, we also saw an opportunity to embrace the co-creative culture that has come to define the modern day digital audiences. To put into context, historically, media producers have held the power, distributing media to audiences who have had no control over its content.

This can also be said in terms of narrative formation. Traditionally in theatre, a play contains a narrative from a script developed by the show’s writer. This traditional approach is a mediated media narrative experience, which can also be said for other conventional media forms e.g. a television drama.

Through the Pain of the Day blog there was the opportunity to start the story, the play, before it opened. In the blog, the posts follow the same themes of the play and exist almost as a stand alone piece of script/narrative. The user comments add to each topic, generating theatre that doesn’t just function as an insular, ‘sit there and watch’ experience for the audience. Instead, they can engage with, add to and circulate this growing narrative over a longer period than the one hour of watching the play.

In this way, Pain of the Day created interactive, co-creative theatre that let the audience interact with (not the real) Thom Pain in a more immersive media experience. This provides the audience with almost directorial power over the play’s narrative and existence.

What’s Next?
With activities like this, we’re very much looking forward to continue exploring the digital space for theatre; in marketing and perhaps much more. For now though, you can go be a part of Pain of the Day, or check out some of our other digital campaigns in our portfolio.