Vancouver’s TJ Dawe is back with Itai Erdal for a collaborative performance in Hyperlink. Hyperlink is the act of jumping from space to space, always exploring new territory but often not staying still for long enough to truly connect. This production showcases the online persona you’ve created. Does it match you the real life version of you? TJ Dawe and Itai Erdal perform as themselves and perform themselves, argue, debate and intertwine their personal experience on everything from internet scams, to love, to hate crimes, to like-farming, in order to get the bottom of what it means to live a life online. Hyperlink kicks off at the Firehall Arts Centre this Thursday, October 5th. Tickets are available online from Firehall Arts Centre.
Contributing Writer Nicole Alivojvodic Reviews Hyerlink
The world premiere of Elbow Theatre’s Hyperlink at the Firehall Arts Centre leaves the audience laughing, crying and contemplating. Written and performed by TJ Dawe and Itai Erdal, Hyperlink delves into life online and the limits of digital empathy. As the title suggests, the performance jumps from topic to topic without ever staying in it long enough to feel that it has been fully fleshed out. The effect this has is that instead of pushing their own opinions on a topic, Dawe and Erdal present a commentary, based on their personal experiences, and let the audience make up their own minds about it.
With topics ranging from “like farming” to internet fads to hate crimes, Hyperlink keeps the audience entertained and thinking. Everything from the visual and sound effects to the cheeky “Instamission” (in lieu of a traditional intermission) are crafted to make a point. While Dawe and Erdal speak candidly and incorporate lots of silliness – including getting the audience to participate in a “Harlem Shake” – they never fail to intellectually question what it means to live a life online.
ILiveInEastVan.com 
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