The Seagull on The Sims 4

Amid the global upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, when physical theaters remained closed and live performance was rendered impossible, Canadian-Korean playwright and filmmaker Celine Song (director of the critically acclaimed Past Lives (2023)) found a compelling alternative stage using The Sims 4. In November 2020, Song directed a livestreamed performance of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull using the life simulation video game on Twitch, transforming a classic work of dramatic literature into a hybrid theatrical and gaming experiment. This inventive project emerged directly from the challenges of the pandemic. Just months earlier, Song’s play Endlings premiered in 2019 at the American Repertory Theater. The show’s off-Broadway run opened in March 2020 at New York Theatre Workshop, but was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We had one proper performance […] And then the next day we learned that everything is going to be shutting down, including my show” (Working in the Theatre: The Seagull on the Sims 4 0:50–01:06), as Song describes the abrupt closure that shifts her approach towards performing art, she soon develops the project with innovative artistic vision to combat the social distancing restriction.

As one of the major works that marked the birth of early modernism in the theater, The Seagull explores themes of unrequited love, fame, and the unfulfilled life of artists. Song claims that, unlike other classics, “Chekhov is very suited for The Sims” (Working in the Theatre: The Seagull on the Sims 4 06:37–06:40), due to its subtlety and intentional absence of melodrama, as the setting of the game makes lurid actions difficult. During the two-night stream, Song has The Sims 4 up on most of the screen, with Twitch chat comments overlays in the corner, and a webcam focus on her face. Unlike traditional theatre, The Seagull on The Sims 4 invites real-time audience participation. With help from an audience of more than 600 viewers, Song assigns the characters clothing and personality traits and shapes the decisions during the stream, and ultimately reimagine this classic text in a way that is both profound and hilarious. Professional actors like Emily Kuroda also provide recordings of voiceovers, translating the gibberish the Sims characters speak into Chekhov’s text, enabling a more immersive experience. This collaborative model challenges conventional hierarchies between director, performer, and spectator. It also reflects the conditions of the pandemic, when everyone, including audiences and artists, is forced into new forms of digital co-presence.