Eidolon – Phantasm and fidelity in the Theatre

Medical training has been transformed in recent years by a suite of technological tools. As a result, Clinical Simulation Centres have become new sites for performance. The medical theatre becomes the stage, hosting scenarios scripted and directed by training staff and simulation computer programmes, high definition mannequins embodied with physical responses, such as voice, pulse, breath and tears, alongside medical professionals, become actors. One of the key aspirations of this simulated and technologically complex environment is psychological fidelity, which enables training participants to invest extraordinary conviction, and commitment to the simulated scenario at hand.

This paper presents the author’s creative research to date at the Scottish Centre for Simulation & Clinical Human Factors (SCSC), at the Royal Forth Valley Hospital, Larbert, Scotland. The SCSC is state-of the-art multi-professional training facility (the only high fidelity simulation centre in Scotland), which undertakes simulation based medical education (SBME) and boasts a range of mid and high fidelity mannequins, accommodated within two multipurpose simulation suites. These areas can be transformed to represent virtually any clinical hospital location (theatre, ward etc.), creating a unique psychological experience. This paper presents progress to date investigating the potential of this unique setting, as a site for an intimate participatory live art project.

The SCSC’s three stage method of training: prep for training (within training rooms); simulation (within simulated clinical environment); followed by de-brief and evaluation (watching footage of simulation within training rooms), is proposed as a potential infrastructure for performance, intertwining medical staff, audience and professional actors/performers (all scrubbed up and robed), combining ‘scripted’ medical procedure scenarios, with experimental theatre techniques and technologies to mobilise audience engagement and participation. The paper explores the potential of the simulated body, experienced through live, participatory performance, to challenge and provoke our perception of the body, presence and psychological fidelity.