★★★★ "Odds On is an exemplar of the way online theatre has developed in the past few years." - The Guardian
Odds On is available to watch here: https://danteordie.com/odds-on
Odds On is an interactive short film that fuses narrative, gameplay and animation. Created by site-specific theatre company Dante or Die, it is an engaging and intense experience that provokes conversation about one of the UK’s hidden addictions: online gambling. With a female protagonist in her 60’s it invites the audience to play an online slot machine game. When they ‘win’ the screen flips around, placing us inside the game watching Felicity as she becomes more and more immersed in the seductive slots.
The film was created through a rigorous research period working with people with lived experience of gambling harm. This included a year-long creative advisory group who fed into script development, graphics, wraparound support pack and content warnings. Integrated captions and an audio-described version have increased accessibility for deaf and visually impaired audiences.
Since launching in June 2022, it has been touring digitally, presented by 11 arts venues across the UK including Traverse Theatre, Norwich Theatre Royal and Unity Theatre Liverpool. It is integral to continue the exciting digital work that artists began to create during the pandemic, creating new experiences for audiences to access from anywhere. The tour will culminate with installation screenings at Wales Millennium Centre in their BOCS foyer installation space. We’ve hosted a variety in-person screenings and panel discussions including speakers with lived experience of gambling harm, national journalists and gambling treatment specialists. It has also been celebrated in the film sector, winning Best Interactive Film at Wales International Media Festival.
Further successes for the project include receiving significant Arts Council England funding to create a digital creative project using the film in all of Gordon Moody Foundation’s gambling treatment centres. Additionally, following a screening at the NHS National Problem Gambling Clinic, the film will be shown to every person who uses the clinic’s services.
It was commissioned by The Lowry and Lighthouse Poole, with funding from
Awards for All, The Rayne Foundation and Arts Council England.
Dante or Die is an award winning, internationally recognised theatre company specialising in creating and touring unique site-specific performances. . Led by co-founders Daphna Attias and Terry O’Donovan, our mission is to bring communities together creatively to confront knotty contemporary topics and inspire people to see every day local spaces in a new light. We create bold, celebrated performances that entice local people into Dante or Die’s world through surprising takeovers of familiar spaces, telling stories that resonate with modern life. We gently transform everyday buildings – from hotel rooms to swimming pools, artificial ski slopes to cafés, storage units to leisure centres – to create distinctive, intimate and memorable theatrical experiences for people of all ages. Our work affects change on the spaces that we use: dismantling stereotypes and portraying new perspectives of sometimes forgotten and disregarded sites which can reinvigorate and inspire new activity.
“every project is so different, so surprising and that’s rare” – theatre critic, Lyn Gardener
We align with the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:
