FAMEHUNGRY at HOME

What happens when an award-winning performance artist decides to try her hand at becoming TikTok famous? That’s the question Louise Orwin sets out to answer in FAMEHUNGRY, a unique theatrical experiment returning to HOME this November. After years spent making critically acclaimed work, Orwin finds herself competing for attention with young people attracting thousands of followers simply by filming themselves on their phones.

Rather than standing on the sidelines and commenting on internet culture, Orwin throws herself into it. FAMEHUNGRY takes the form of a live game, performed simultaneously for two audiences. One sits in the theatre, watching the action unfold on stage. The other watches Orwin’s livestream on TikTok, potentially unaware that they’re taking part in a theatre show.

The aim is simple enough. Orwin wants to rack up likes on her livestream, attempting increasingly ridiculous challenges to keep her online audience entertained. Meanwhile, the theatre audience watches the whole process unfold, including the unpredictable reactions of strangers scrolling through their phones. There’s also the possibility of Orwin falling foul of TikTok’s strict content rules.

Helping her navigate this unfamiliar territory is Jax Valentine, a young TikToker with a following of around 80,000. Intrigued by Jax’s success, Orwin enlisted them as her mentor, learning everything from dance trends and face filters to the demands of the algorithm. It’s an unlikely partnership, with the younger performer teaching the established artist a thing or two about becoming internet famous.

Orwin has spent more than a decade creating experimental work exploring identity, gender and popular culture. Her earlier show Pretty Ugly involved creating fictional teenage identities online to investigate the experiences of young women on the internet. Her fascination with the relationship between our online and offline selves is nothing new.

Following an award-winning Edinburgh Fringe run and performances internationally, FAMEHUNGRY offers a funny, unpredictable look at the peculiar business of internet fame, and what it means to be an artist in an age where attention is measured in likes.