The starting point of this interactive intermedia performance is an experiment: how to take a drama text and, in staging it, intertwine it with the operative mechanisms of (computer) games and introduce an individual’s intimate narrative into the experience of collective play?
In this experimental performance blending theatre and game mechanics, I was responsible for creating the full visual identity of the piece — drawing inspiration from 90s computer aesthetics and Windows 98 interfaces.
My Role & Tasks
• Developed the overall visual concept, aligning the design with the performance’s retro-digital tone and interactive structure.
• Designed character-specific desktop environments, each reflecting one of the three protagonists through colour-coded themes and custom backgrounds.
• Created in-game graphics and retro-style icons for classic games like Snake, Pong, and Space Invaders, reimagined as part of the audience's participatory experience.
• Designed the official poster — a stylized digital desktop filled with overlapping windows and clickable buttons, visually conveying the play’s themes and practical info (cast, dates, venue).
Tools used
Adobe Illustrator · Adobe Photoshop · Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Illustrator · Adobe Photoshop · Adobe Lightroom
The starting point of this interactive intermedia performance is an experiment: how to take a drama text and, in staging it, intertwine it with the operative mechanisms of (computer) games and introduce an individual’s intimate narrative into the experience of collective play?
It All Continued with Frozen Lobsters serves as a continuation of Hrvatin’s text It All Started with the Bunny Rabbit Goulash, which won her the 2020 Young Playwright Award at the Week of Slovenian Drama. While, in the first work, the author focused on the questions of guilt, in the second, she explores the question of shame through the narrative of three young women who are facing the experience of abuse, illness and loneliness in times of precarious employment, gentrification and social insecurity.
Photo credit: Zala Jelenc
Playwright, author of concept and performance script: Varja Hrvatin
Performers: Maša Grošelj, Anja Novak, Živa Selan
Programmer and technical designer: Jurij Smrke
Sound designer & author of original music: Gašper Lovrec
Space and light designer: Bor Ravbar
Graphic and video designer: Anja Romih
Technical support: Domen Lušin
Help with design, photo and video documentation: Maša Dernovšek
Production: Varja Hrvatin
Partner: Španski Borci Cultural Centre
Financial support: City of Ljubljana
Performers: Maša Grošelj, Anja Novak, Živa Selan
Programmer and technical designer: Jurij Smrke
Sound designer & author of original music: Gašper Lovrec
Space and light designer: Bor Ravbar
Graphic and video designer: Anja Romih
Technical support: Domen Lušin
Help with design, photo and video documentation: Maša Dernovšek
Production: Varja Hrvatin
Partner: Španski Borci Cultural Centre
Financial support: City of Ljubljana
"It All Continued with Frozen Lobsters" adopts the format of an interactive intermedia performance that takes as its starting point an experiment; how to intertwine the dramatic text with the mechanisms of (computer) games - how to bring the intimate individual narrative into the experience of a collective game.
The performance thus serves as a further exploration of the author’s performative language, in which she experiments with new forms of interactive performance through the interplay of different media, technology, the virtual world, games and the internet. The performance premiered at Španski borci and was later included in the accompanying programme of the 60th Maribor Theatre Festival.
