Jess & Morgs - Deepfake

About this event

Dance and technology collide in this interrogation of misinformation. DEEPFAKE follows two central characters, a modern-day politician and a political journalist, in a high stakes interview situation. As the interview unravels, the green-screen setting of the TV studio and ‘green-screen dancers’ becomes a metaphor for half-truths and lies – playfully and absurdly revealing the manipulation in plain sight. Using dance, film, text and innovative digital technology, this new work speaks to the global uncertainties of today and the crumbling notion of objective truth. Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple – collectively known as Jess & Morgs – are award-winning directors, choreographers, and filmmakers who have been creating multidisciplinary work together for over fifteen years. Their reimagining of Coppélia for Scottish Ballet won the 2023 UK Theatre Award for Achievement in Dance and the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Best Classical Choreography. Specializing in live cinematic dance, Jess & Morgs push the boundaries of technology in live performance, offering audiences an immersive experience that blurs the lines between reality and fiction. DEEPFAKE is a collaboration with writer-dramaturg Jeff James. DEEPFAKE is a work of fiction. All characters and events are invented. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is unintentional. DEEPFAKE is co-commissioned by Sadler’s Wells Theatre and DanceEast, as a DanceEast Jerwood Commission and Jacob’s Pillow and the Joan B. Hunter New Work Commission. DEEPFAKE is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. It is additionally supported by The Space funded by Arts Council England, Here East, and the Abderrahim Crickmay Charitable Settlement. DEEPFAKE was created in partnership with Central School of Ballet and with thanks to HAWK, Target 3D and Studio Wayne McGregor through the FreeSpace programme. Header image description: A scene set against a green backdrop. On one side, two people sit under bright studio lights while two others kneel in front of them holding small cameras. On the other side, a screen shows a performer raising their hand toward the camera.