Virtual Stage as Psychic Space: An Appraisal of Digital Youth Theatre and Contemporary Global Narratives

Abstract This article examines digital youth theatre as a new form of theatrical space, arguing that the virtual stage functions as a psychic space where young people connect their personal experiences with global cultural narratives. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory and performance studies, it shows how online theatre allows youth performers to explore identity, memory, emotion, and trauma through digitally mediated performance. Rather than being a reduced or disembodied form of theatre, virtual performance is presented as a site of heightened emotional and psychological engagement, often shaped by liminality, fragmentation, and non-linear storytelling. Using examples from transnational youth performances, the article demonstrates how global concerns, such as migration, economic insecurity, environmental crisis, and social displacement, are translated into intimate theatrical expression. The virtual stage thus mediates between individual inner experience and shared meaning, creating new storytelling forms that blur boundaries between presence and absence, privacy and public address. Conceiving digital youth theatre as a form of symbolic self-expression, the article contributes to ongoing discussions about performance, identity, and culture in the digital age.