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chemical weapons during the First World War, and their impact across three  
generations (59 Productions: 2014). As documented in reviews and production 
materials, it incorporates live filmmaking on stage, using cameras, “cuts between 
close-up and long shot” (Tripney: 2016), and carefully controlled microphones to 
construct a cinematic version of the action in real time. As Philip Auslander argues, 
live performance has increasingly responded to the dominance of mediatised 
forms by becoming “as much like them as possible” (2008: 8), a claim reflected in 
Mitchell’s integration of cinematic techniques. However, this position is  
complicated by the production’s simultaneous exposure of its own mechanisms: 
the audience encounters both the constructed film on screen and the visible  
processes behind its creation, including performers and technicians moving in and 
out of view. This resists full assimilation into cinematic form, suggesting that rather 
than simply reproducing media, Mitchell’s work foregrounds the tension between 
theatrical liveness and mediation. As a result, spectatorship becomes fragment-
ed, with audiences being required to negotiate between live action and mediated 
image. As Balme suggests, intermediality reshapes perception,  
requiring the audience to actively negotiate where to look rather than passively 
receiving a unified image (Balme 2008). This fragmentation not only mirrors  
contemporary multi-screen viewing habits, but also reshapes the audience’s role, 
demanding a more self-aware and selective mode of engagement.  
Rider Spoke, created by Blast Theory, offers a contrasting example of what this 
essay defines as “participatory intermediality”, extending beyond the perceptual 
focus of Balme’s model. While Mitchell’s The Forbidden Zone reconfigures how 
performance is seen, Rider Spoke reconfigures how it is made. Participants are 
equipped with a bicycle, headphones, and a mobile device, and are guided through 
the city by an audio narrator who prompts them to reflect on personal questions 
and “plant [their] own recorded answers” (Benedictus, 2007). These recordings are 
then made available to others, creating a networked system of user-generated  
content. The work combines multiple media forms - particularly mobile  
technologies such as games and apps - in line with Balme’s definition of  
intermediality. However, unlike representational intermediality, where media  
reshape perception, Rider Spoke shifts the audience from observer to active  
participant, with engagement enacted through movement, decision-making, and 
contribution. This participation is structured rather than open. This creates a  
tension between the appearance of freedom and the reality of control, as  
participants are invited to contribute only within parameters that define the limits 
of their agency. In this sense, technology - often associated with distance -  
functions as a mechanism of connection, enabling private reflection within a  
public setting. 
In Mitchell’s work, intermediality operates at the level of representation, using film 
to reshape how audiences perceive theatrical action. Although this produces a 
layered and fragmented spectatorship, the performance remains grounded in a 

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