Bordergame is an exciting, immersive, interactive, digital theatre production from National Theatre Wales that combines real experiences with game play, theatre and absurdity, where online players control the fate of the real-world audience.
The Autonomous Republic of Cymru is an independent state operating a points-based migration system. Its borders have come under increasing pressure, recently – its health and education systems are still free, and there is plenty of work for skilled workers. An outbreak of TB in the Royal United Kingdom of New Britain and Northern Ireland (or NewK) has forced the issue to breaking point.
Life is no longer safe in the NewK, and Bristol has become the epicentre for illegal migration and a gateway to security and prosperity in the Autonomous Republic of Cymru.
Bordergame offers its players a safe haven from the perils of their old lives. All they have to do is make it from Bristol to Newport, without arousing the suspicions of the Border Agency of the Autonomous Republic of Cymru (BAARC) and its online, volunteer army of Active Citizens.
For the duration of the project (6-21 November), online players of Bordergame signed up to the Active Citizen Programme of the Border Agency of the Autonomous Republic of Cymru (BAARC).
An Active Citizen's role was to help protect the nation by monitoring the borders between NewK and The Autonomous Republic, watching out for illegal migrants and other threats. The suspected migrants under surveillance were the live audience on the ground.
Once registered, Active Citizens used an official government website relating to matters of Immigration Enforcement to monitor the border.
National Theatre Wales is fast becoming a world leader in innovative digital theatre, and this project won the first Space Prize, a new prize set up by BBC Writersroom and The Space.