The writer, the performer, the program, the madwoman

The writer, the performer, the program, the madwoman is a performance piece which involves sampling and real-time manipulation of voice and text using interactive computer programs written by Roger Dean. The piece is different each time it is performed, because the sampling and real time manipulation are always improvised. The piece is about the struggle between the different identities of a contemporary writer as she moves beyond words on the page, and allows her work to be transformed by performance and technology. Real-time manipulation blurs the roles of writer, performer, audience and computer program, and creates a productive conflict for the writer between control and loss of control. In the piece this tension is dramatised as a power struggle between the writer and other forces, and a balancing act between madness and sanity