Performing the internet verbatim = comedy gold

What if the internet came to life?

That's what Yale theatre graduates Allison Goldberg and Jen Jamula are doing with their New York-based sketch comedy show Blogologues: The Internet Onstage.

Their live shows see them acting out community forums, Missed Connections, Yelp reviews, OkCupid profiles, fan fiction, tweets, comment sections and more.

"Through Blogologues we're looking to bring people together to experience something they would normally experience alone," says Jen.

 

Every word the actors say is verbatim from the internet and there are projections on stage that credit the URLs and bloggers.

"We try to take the opposite of what you might see when you see in the text. So if you think it's a young man writing it, we might have a old woman saying it onstage for example," says Jen.

One of their aims is to explore the concept of identity in the digital age.

"We're all crafting these online personas. Who are these people really?" says Allison. "We want the audience to consider that this might not be who you expect."

Blogologues have been described as "the intersection of art and technology".

"All of our material looks at technology in some way." says Allison. "And what's interesting is that the tech community has really gotten behind the show, I'd say much more than the arts community."

Why is their show -- that takes on the internet -- so resonant?

"Everyone can relate to it," says Allison. "We've been told it's like a mirror, which is interesting to us because when you study theatre they talk about how it should reflect life back at you."