The Medium
Based on the Life and Predictions of Marshall McLuhan
Created by SITI Company
Conceived and directed by Anne Bogart
Originally created in 1993, this compelling work of devised theater is perhaps more resonant now than ever. The Medium is based on the writings and theories of media prophet Marshall McLuhan, coiner of the phrases “the medium is the message” and “global village” to describe his visions of our interconnected future who questioned the positive impact that emerging technologies would have on our lives. A champion talker deprived of speech by a stroke near the end of his life, McLuhan (portrayed with tragicomic precision by Will Bond) staggers and clicks his way through Bogart’s multichannel multiverse—a black-and-white vision of televised anti-revolution that puts our modern technocratic dilemmas front-and-center.
True to the SITI Company’s style, the piece combines myriad influences: 1920s American Expressionism, modern dance, Japanese avant-garde theater and others with the purpose of reflecting McLuhan’s mixed predictions. Staged with minimalist potency and maximal physicality by Bogart and the astonishing artists of SITI Company, The Medium asks: Who are we—and what are we becoming—in the flickering light of our own devices?
READ:
“Stereotype” from A Director Prepares by Anne Bogart
NYTimes Review: McLuhan’s Old Message, As the Medium Mutates
WATCH:
The SITI Company
SITI Company is an ensemble-based theater company whose three ongoing components are the creation of new work, the training of theater artists, and a commitment to a commitment to crossing boundaries.
Learn more about SITI Company.
Marshall McLuhan
Marshall McLuhan (b. 21 July 1911 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; d. 31 December 1980 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada), was a professor of English literature and media analyst whose controversial theories had a strong impact on views of the expanding media in the 1960s.
He coined the phrase “the medium is the message” in his text Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, written in 1960 and first published as a report to the U.S. Office of Education. The book focuses on media effects in all areas of society and culture.
When Marshall McLuhan first coined the phrases “global village” and “the medium is the message” in 1964, no-one could have predicted today’s information-dependent planet. No-one, that is, except for a handful of science fiction writers and Marshall McLuhan. Understanding Media was written twenty years before the PC revolution and thirty years before the rise of the Internet. Yet McLuhan’s insights into our engagement with a variety of media led to a complete rethinking of our entire society. He believed that the message of electronic media foretold the end of humanity as it was known. In 1964, this looked like the paranoid babblings of a madman. In our twenty-first century digital world, the madman looks quite sane. Understanding Media: the most important book ever written on communication. Ignore its message at your peril.
