Houdini’s Premonition: Virtuality and Vaudeville on the Internet

The author discusses what isn’t “new” about our use of new technologies such as the Internet, drawing links between turn-of-the-century vaudeville and turn-of-the-millennium digital culture while charting, historically and metaphysically, the differences between these performative and social technologies. The point is threefold: to situate the Internet within the cultural history of media technologies and 20th century performance; to remember vaudeville and bring it back to life; and to explore current online theater (such as MOO performances) as a species of virtual vaudeville.