A performance after Brecht: video projection as the protagonist’s digital consciousness and living scenography.
Digital consciousness as an image of an inner state.
BAAL is a production after Bertolt Brecht’s play of the same name, where video projection became a full participant in the dramaturgy. The stage stops being a fixed space and turns into a dynamic media environment that responds to the actors’ actions.
The visual system is based on original illustrations by artist Vasilina Kharlamova, reworked into realtime projections. They show from the inside: the protagonist’s unstable, fragmented, distorted perception. The production draws on the aesthetics of the early 20th-century avant-garde — breaking traditional forms to find a new language for an inner state.
The video sequence carries not plot, but state. Baal’s unstable, fragmented perception: the image distorts, doubles, falls apart — following what is happening to the protagonist. The audience looks not at the stage, but into consciousness.
The stage space responds to the actors’ actions. TouchDesigner processes the signal in real time: Vasilina Kharlamova’s original illustrations and live camera footage of the performers merge into one stream and appear on screen without delay.
The visual language is a direct reference to Brecht: breaking familiar forms through the medium. A separate cloud-like screen works above the stage — an independent object in space, not a flat surface. The image becomes the body of the performance.
The dramaturgy of the image: where projection leads, where it steps back, where it argues with the actor. Video is built into the action as a full character — the decision of what to show and when was made together with the director.
Vasilina Kharlamova’s illustrations were reworked into digital graphics: composition of projection layers, colour, light. A static drawing becomes a moving environment without losing the artist’s hand.
Live camera footage of the actors and graphics were mixed into one stream without delay. The signal was processed in real time — the image responded to movement, pause, and the rhythm of the scene. The stage as a medium, not a screen.
Operating the video system during performances, technical support, and adaptation to different venues. Every performance was a live execution of the video score, not the playback of a finished file.
The stage stops being a space — and becomes a media environment that breathes with the actor.
