Royal & Derngate theatre in Northampton launches digital interactive experience Who Cares 2032

In collaboration with immersive theatre company Hydrocracker and Northamptonshire charity Deafconnect, Royal & Derngate will be releasing a new interactive digital experience, Who Cares 2032, available from 31 May 2023 at www.whocares2032.com on ‘pay what you can’ basis.

Written and performed by hearing and non-hearing practitioners and featuring members of Northampton’s Deaf and hearing communities, the solo experience uses narration, film, audio, integrated BSL and audio description to explore the complex emotional and ethical issues of our future health care, giving audiences the opportunity to reflect on and give their thoughts about what ‘care’ might look like in ten years’ time. Hydrocracker, known for their large scale immersive work, had the idea of making a work about health care over 15 years ago – researching and developing several concepts before Covid moved them towards using film and digital content. Commissioned by Royal & Derngate, this interactive digital work has been co-created by Jem Wall and Nathan Crossan-Smith, written by Chloe Todd-Fordham, Thea Gajic and Rebecca Saffir. WHO CARES 2032 short film, Mish & Graham and three monologues featuring members of Deafconnect were directed by Nathan Crossan-Smith. The WHO CARES 2032 website was developed by digital specialists Studio Renton with interactive design by John Hunter. Rhiannon Jones (Silent Witness) is Mish and Jem Wall (Game of Thrones) is Graham. Faith Omole (Standing at the Sky’s Edge) performs the voice of ‘Anna’ and Jude Akuwudike (Beasts of No Nation) performs the voice of ‘Oladipo’. The audio monologues were created and voiced by members of the Northampton Ensemble. Anna is a junior doctor with frontline experience of caring for people. If anyone knows about care, it’s Anna. But Anna has a problem. She’s dead. She’s inside your computer - a ghost in your machine who can take you into the future… It’s 2032. The Connect App has changed everything. It could be the answer to the social care crisis. Anna is not so sure. She needs to talk to you about it. She needs your help. Ready to Connect? Jo Gordon, Chief Executive, Royal & Derngate, says: “We’re thrilled to have been able to work with Hydrocracker and Deafconnect to bring this thought-provoking project to fruition. With the involvement of members of the local community, both Deaf and hearing, this is a truly collaborative creation. The resulting online experience is something that is only too relevant to us all in our current times.”

Jem Wall, Artistic Director, Hydrocracker says: “How we care for ourselves and the people around us has long been something Hydrocracker wanted to make work about, but it was impact of the Covid pandemic which revealed the cracks in our system so profoundly – the pressure on our overcrowded hospitals, the never ending crisis in social care, doctors and nurses who we all clapped for out on strike – that the need to make the work became urgent. Inspired by books like THE CARE MANIFESTO, Hilary Cotham’s RADICAL HELP and NESTA’s The NHS IN 2030, we imagined what the world might look like in the future and what it might take to solve the social care crisis.

We felt if we could take an audience to see an imagined future they might feel liberated from the everyday to think afresh and reimagine what they might want for themselves and the people they care about.”

Hydrocracker have developed a reputation for working with non-professional ensembles, creating real and complex characters and bespoke performances reflective of each community in which it is working.

Established in 1874, Deafconnect is the only charity in Northamptonshire supporting deaf people of all ages.