“The Future Is Gonna Be Better Than Today”: The Metamodern Theatre of Verbatim Musical Public Domain

Benjamin Broadribb

doi:10.1515/jcde-2025-2004

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“The Future Is Gonna Be Better Than Today”: The Metamodern Theatre of Verbatim Musical Public Domain

Benjamin Broadribb
completed his PhD at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham. His research focusses on how twenty-first-century screen adaptations and appropriations of Shakespeare both reflect and contribute to the wider structure of feeling that characterizes the opening decades of the 2000 s. His wider research interests include the broader social and cultural sensibility of the twenty-first century, particularly metamodernism. With Gemma Kate Allred and Erin Sullivan, he co-edited Lockdown Shakespeare: New Evolutions in Performance and Adaptation (2022). His article, “‘Very Tragical Mirth’: Performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Screen(s) During Lockdown,” was published in Shakespeare Survey (2023). He has contributed chapters to Shakespeare on Screen: Romeo and Juliet (2023), Shakespearean Biofiction on the Contemporary Stage and Screen (2023), and Authenticity and Adaptation (forthcoming). Since April 2023, he has served as Performance Reviews Editor for Shakespeare Bulletin.

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Aus der Zeitschrift Journal of Contemporary Drama in English Band 13 Heft 1

Abstract

Metamodernism has increasingly been put forward as the predominant cultural logic of the opening decades of the twenty-first century, shifting away from or beyond the postmodern sensibility of the late twentieth century. This article puts forward the verbatim musical Public Domain, written and performed by Francesca Forristal and Jordan Paul Clarke, as a key example of metamodern theatre. Through close analysis of Public Domain’s livestreamed run from Southwark Playhouse in January 2021, performed under lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, this article demonstrates how Forristal and Clarke, together with director Adam Lenson, achieve metamodernism’s oscillating aesthetic and emphasis on felt experience. I explore how Public Domain utilises the verbatim musical form, their chosen subject matter of social media and online culture, and pandemic performance modes and aesthetics to evince a metamodern sensibility. Specifically, I consider the “depthiness” of Forristal and Clarke’s music, lyrics, and performances, and how this was brought out further through Lenson’s directorial decisions for Public Domain’s livestreamed run. In doing so, I propose that Public Domain is exemplary in demonstrating the metamodern shift in theatrical aesthetics and online culture as well as providing an important cultural artefact of pandemic performance.

Keywords: metamodernism; depthiness; verbatim theatre; musical theatre; digital theatre; COVID-19; pandemic performance; Francesca Forristal; Jordan Paul Clarke; Adam Lenson; Public Domain

About the author

Benjamin Broadribb

completed his PhD at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham. His research focusses on how twenty-first-century screen adaptations and appropriations of Shakespeare both reflect and contribute to the wider structure of feeling that characterizes the opening decades of the 2000 s. His wider research interests include the broader social and cultural sensibility of the twenty-first century, particularly metamodernism. With Gemma Kate Allred and Erin Sullivan, he co-edited Lockdown Shakespeare: New Evolutions in Performance and Adaptation (2022). His article, “‘Very Tragical Mirth’: Performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Screen(s) During Lockdown,” was published in Shakespeare Survey (2023). He has contributed chapters to Shakespeare on Screen: Romeo and Juliet (2023), Shakespearean Biofiction on the Contemporary Stage and Screen (2023), and Authenticity and Adaptation (forthcoming). Since April 2023, he has served as Performance Reviews Editor for Shakespeare Bulletin.

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Published Online: 2025-04-29

Published in Print: 2025-04-24

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Artikel in diesem Heft

https://doi.org/10.1515/jcde-2025-2004

Schlagwörter für diesen Artikel

metamodernism; depthiness; verbatim theatre; musical theatre; digital theatre; COVID-19; pandemic performance; Francesca Forristal; Jordan Paul Clarke; Adam Lenson; Public Domain