Zombiegate is a satirical and empathetic play which attempts to get behind the headlines and hashtags of internet trolls, scrutinizing mob mentality and myths around cancel culture.
Hot on the heels of Halloween, Theatre503 is playing host to Zombiegate until November 19th. Written by Matthew Gabrielli, the play is a satirical exploration of internet trolling, and the consequences of being ‘cancelled’ after posting ill-received content online.
The lead characters are Sophie (Ebony Jonelle) and Jamie (George Howard), two friends who post a quick selfie at a bus stop in their Halloween outfits before jumping on the bus for a night out. Sounds harmless and inconsequential, right?Unbeknown to them, a floral tribute to a recently deceased child is visible in the background of their photo. Whilst nursing their hangovers the next morning, they realise their selfie has gone viral and attracted the wrath of countless keyboard warriors.
Facing accusations of mocking a late child, their friendship is pushed to its limits as they battle online abuse, much of it from an obsessive troll known as Mr Punch. As the real and digital worlds collide, their lives, jobs, families and reputations are ripped apart by algorithms and online mobs.
Social media is an extraordinary element of life. I had just finished my school years when Facebook really started to catch on. Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and other platforms followed. Having experienced the advent of all of these, my perspective on social media has evolved over the years. It has its plusses and minuses. Sometimes it’s beneficial, and at other times it can be toxic. One thing’s for sure – there’s no putting the genie back in the bottle. So what you do with it, how often you use it and what you choose to put on it truly is everything.
If used wisely, it can be a force for good. Connecting with loved ones abroad has never been easier. A simple but witty Tweet by a stranger can really cheer you up on a bad day. Events, job adverts etc. crop up on your homepages which you may not have known about.
In 2008, a holidaymaker on a Greek island found a digital camera on some rocks near the ocean. This was before iPhones and The Cloud were mainstream, so losing a digital camera with hundreds of photos was the stuff of nightmares. The holidaymaker set up a Facebook group called “Needle in a Haystack”, uploaded five photos from the camera which had people in them, and explained that he wanted to find the owner of the camera. The idea was that eventually a user might recognise someone in the photos, who may then be able to identify who took the photo i.e. the camera owner. He invited all his Facebook friends to join the group, they then invited theirs to do the same, and so on and so forth. It was a fun albeit unrealistic notion at first, but something about it resonated and spoke to people. Over the course of three weeks, it gained momentum and grew very fast. In the early days you would log in on an evening and see that maybe a few dozen more people had joined the group since you last checked it that morning. Then the next day it would be hundreds more joining rather than dozens. And as the days rolled on it became thousands joining daily, then tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and it eventually amassed over a million members. It was exciting to watch it play out and be a part of, and it slowly became apparent that it might actually work. Finally after just under a month, an office worker in Paris joined the group whilst sneakily browsing Facebook at her desk, recognised someone in the photos as an acquaintance, drew their attention to it and hey presto, the owner was identified and reunited with the camera.
Mission accomplished, and it was a marvellous end to the journey. Today there is almost zero trace of this group online. It has long since been taken down, and it’s as if it never existed. But it did exist, and anyone like myself who joined it remember it fondly as an early indicator of the true power of social media.
“Needle in a Haystack” is an example of social media being used as a force for good. But there is a toxic, negative side of to it that Sophie and Jamie experience in Zombiegate. If you post something that causes even just a murmur of offence, you may find yourself ‘cancelled’. It is a curious phenomenon, but a topical issue, and this play examines it in smart and intelligent way. The success of it lies in its focus on the contrasting ways Sophie and Jamie choose to handle the fall-out of the selfie going viral. Whilst one keeps a low profile and waits for the storm to blow over, the other treats it as a wave of celebrity to ride.
There are now youngsters, like Sophie and Jamie, born around or after the advent of social media who are conditioned by it and don’t know a world without it. They feel obliged and compelled to post things, and don’t understand that actually no, you don’t need to post as much and as often as many of them do.
The conclusion of this play mirrors my own conclusion of social media: if used wisely and in moderation, it’s a worthy addition to life. Your relationship with it can be whatever you want it to be. Enjoy it, follow who you want and don’t bother even engaging with anyone toxic – it’s just a waste of time. By all means post stuff. But there is no need to post every photo, thought or opinion for the world to see. And always remember that a still tongue makes a wise head.