The Vast Lament 2.0 is an environmental digital theatre work by director Yuyang Cheng and SPECTATOR CONCEPT THEATRE (SCT London). Blending theatre, architecture, art, and technology, the performance turns space itself into an immersive narrative experience shaped by light, sound, and the performers’ movements.

About the Show

The Vast Lament 2.0 is the second work in The Floating Life Performance Series, an environmental digital theatre trilogy created by director Yuyang Cheng, who has a background in architecture. Rooted in Eastern philosophy, the work explores the relationship between life, space, and perception by transforming architectural space into an immersive narrative field.

The project was commissioned in 2025 as part of the RAW (Rising Artists’ Works) Program of the China Shanghai International Arts Festival, hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and organized by the Shanghai Municipal Government. In the same year, it was selected for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In December 2023, the director and the work were featured in a full-page report in TATE ETC., the magazine of Tate Modern.

About the Performance

Using robotic arms, bio-sensing technology, real-time visuals, and sound, the performance creates a blended reality where physical space and digital media interact continuously. The work treats technology as an expressive language, allowing light, sound, and spatial structures to respond to the performers in real time.

Drawing from architectural practice, the stage is conceived as a spatial environment rather than a fixed setting. Installations, projections, light, shadow, and geometry form a “legible” space that carries the narrative through movement and visual change.

Performers & Creators

Yuyang Cheng - Creator & Director

An experimental environmental digital theatre director and interdisciplinary artist. She founded SPECTATOR CONCEPT THEATRE (SCT London) in 2022 and works across theatre, architecture, digital media, and installation. Her The Floating Life series has been selected for the Focus China program and commissioned by the Shanghai International Arts Festival RAW Program.

SPECTATOR CONCEPT THEATRE (SCT)

An experimental theatre collective based in London, Shanghai, and Hangzhou. The company focuses on immersive theatre, spatial performance, digital installations, and interdisciplinary creative projects.

Why Go

This performance is for audiences interested in experimental theatre, architecture-driven performance, and digital art practices. It offers a chance to experience a work where space, technology, and the human body interact in real time, and where theatre unfolds around the audience rather than on a traditional stage.

Seating Chart