REVIEW: Dead People Are Liking Things On Facebook, Chris Dupuis, Dundee Fringe 2026 ★★

Have you ever thought about what will happen to your social media accounts when you die?

This is the question that artist Chris Dupuis poses in his performance lecture Dead People Are Liking Things On Facebook. Based on his experience of seeing one of his Facebook friends had supposedly “liked” Coca-Cola on the site years after he died, Dupuis juggles real life anecdotes with discussions of religion and the afterlife to explore the different ways that people are remembered online.

The plot centres around three of Dupuis’ friends and acquaintances: artist Will, who died after a battle with brain cancer; drag queen Felicia, who heavily abused drugs and alcohol and died from complications relating to AIDS; and Charles, who was murdered in a failed drugs deal. Their stories are varied and interesting, and Dupuis does a good job at painting a picture of who they were. He doesn’t turn them into saints, but acknowledges their flaws and struggles, and grapples with his own anxieties around if he will be remembered after he dies. His emotions feel genuine, particularly when he talks about finding out that Will has died.

For the whole performance, Dupuis sits behind a desk with an iPad and laptop in front of him. This is somewhat limiting, and makes the performance feel quite static. Although he is understandably emotional at some points, other times he appears disengaged, and looks like he’s reading straight off his iPad. His Facebook feed is projected onto a screen behind him. While it is beneficial to see photos of who he is talking about, and it is a brilliant illustration of his point that Facebook is becoming a digital graveyard, this results in some technical problems, and there are awkward pauses while we wait for him to find the right picture. It feels a bit voyeuristic to watch him scroll through Facebook profiles of people we don’t know.

The narrative lacks structure, which again, lets what could be a strong performance down. It jumps around a bit, and some parts are unnecessarily overexplained. While he acknowledges that the threat of AIDS hangs over every gay man’s head, his description of how to stay healthy while living with HIV is overly simplified as just taking one pill a day and eating a balanced diet. The show ends abruptly, and there is no clear ending. There is no link back to why it looked like Will liked something on Facebook after he had passed, and it was only mentioned by an audience member during the Q&A segment at the end.

While Dead People Are Liking Things On Facebook poses interesting questions about death and how we are remembered after we die, it would greatly benefit from a tighter structure and more theatrical elements. Dupuis takes more from a Facebook profile than you would have thought possible, and although it wasn’t my cup of tea, his dedication and passion for the subject is evident. It is a lovely tribute to the three people who died.

Recommended Drink: Coca-cola.

Performances of Dead People Are Liking Things On Facebook have now concluded at Dundee Fringe 2026.