Even if you’re not familiar with her work as a staff writer on Prime Videos The wheel of timedirector Celine Song — whose directorial debut, Past lives, coming out this week in a big way – may spark with you for another reason. In 2020, Song, in collaboration with the New York Theater Workshop, made headlines for staging a production of Anton Chekhov’s classic play The Seagull within a Sims game.
Appropriately dubbed The seagull in The Sims 4the virtual production ran two evenings in October 2020, clocking in at about six hours. Including those who viewed the archive footage, which was hosted on Song’s Twitch page for some time 10,000 people watched this innovative staging.
Image: Maxis/Electronic Arts via Celine Song/Twitch
The show took place at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when live performances weren’t possible in person, so the theater world had to innovate. Song looked to the video game world for inspiration.
“My little sister is a video game designer, so I know a little bit about the world of video games,” Song told Polygon. “I watched a lot of Twitch, a lot of live video games – streamers – during COVID. [Streaming] is like a long live performance.”
Song was mostly forced by how long streams can be and how streamers often ad-lib what they’re talking about and adapt to what’s going on in the chat or their environment. Her production of The Seagull was not just a staging streamed over Zoom, but a full process of casting (character creation) and directing (audience participation in the chat), as Song guided her Sims to recreate the events of The Seagull.
The life simulation game was a natural choice for Song even before she decided what play she would produce there. She grew up playing Sims games (her favorite generation is The Sims 2where the chemistry system makes for particularly compelling relationships), and the latest installment in the franchise became an obvious venue for staging her favorite Chekhov play.
“The Sims 4, I always felt it was a very Czech game,” says Song. “Because it’s about just living, right? It’s about drama between people, and like Chekhov you also have to go to the toilet. […] There’s something interesting where it’s really about the really extraordinary things that happen in the mundane [lives of the characters].”
Photo: Jon Pack/A24
Storytelling that highlights small details and everyday moments has always been an integral part of the Sims experience. And while Song’s directorial debut, Past lives, is not specifically related to the video game franchise, it certainly highlights the everyday moments in the lives of its protagonists, Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo).
Past lives follows the two former friends, through three separate eras in their lives, considering the impact they had on each other and how they’ve grown as people over the decades. Just like in The Sims, the most imaginative moments in Past lives come from small, everyday details – from the ringing of a Skype call when Nora and Hae Sung reconnect to the reflection in a hotel window on a rainy day.
In particular, the use of reflections recurs throughout the film. Many shots are taken through windows, or viewed from mirrors or other reflective surfaces. It almost feels like the audience is peeking in from another reality – or a past life. It’s a choice Song says was essential to the film’s language, for a reason that links Sims games and Chekhov’s work.
“The film is about the way life reflects on itself,” she tells Polygon.
Past lives continues its theatrical rollout and will have a wide release on June 23.