Staying awake: the art of the epic

Despite claims social media has destroyed our attention spans, audiences still flock to endurance-length theatrical epics: but why?
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Andrew Rothney in The James Plays James II. Credit: Manuel Harlan, Adelaide Festival of Arts.

From Peter Brook’s legendary nine-hour epic The Mahabharata in 1988, to more recent works such as Toneelgroep Amsterdam’s Roman Tragedies and Nature Theatre of Oklahoma’s Life and Times Episodes 1–4, it seems Australian festival audiences can’t get enough of epic-length and immersive theatre productions.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts