Practitioner
Ant Hampton
Originator of autoteatro
Interviewed 28 July 2026
Works Etiquette · The Extra People · Borderline Visible · Not to Scale · Showing Without Going (atlas)
Experienced for this research Borderline Visible, Not to Scale
This page is provisional until Ant Hampton has reviewed it for error. That undertaking was given at the outset of every interview and it stands.
Not obedience
Describing the origin of the practice — asking a close friend, a stoner who would never willingly perform, to follow instructions on a stage — he is explicit that it is the opposite of the 1960s instruction pieces. It runs on goodwill and trust, “but weirdly, love, in a way.” He calls it an intoxicating gas in the room.
Write for the skeptic
He catches himself always writing for the enthusiastic participant, and argues we should write for them and the Trump-voting uncle — because only then is anything at stake. Directly in tension with Sela, who designs only for the willing. Both positions are in the report.
The “why should I”
Reading is not explicit participation. The moment you ask someone to do something there are constant hurdles. A show that opens “spin around three times and shout the first thing in your head” earns the answer “why should I.”
The tether, qualified
Asked about Neiden’s term, he accepts it but prefers to qualify it — anchored, but tethered. What matters is whether the connection is vibrating and resonant. In Borderline Visible the first fifteen minutes are deliberately frenetic because the participant’s fingers are itchy and the book’s remaining pages are a visible countdown.
The first-take self
Only theater people rehearse. He is interested in the quality of expression people have when they have not prepared — and in theater that is not needy, quoting Tim Etchells on theater as a form that says look at me, love me.