Theatre (sans theatre) Part One

by Jamie Dunsdon

It's cold outside.

Do you really want to risk the bad roads to see that play downtown?

It's really cold.

Plus the car's defroster hasn't been working very well...

I heard there's construction on 9th ave.  Probably wouldn't make it in time anyway.  Parking's bad downtown.

You know, I heard you can catch this play on the web.

They filmed it.

Maybe you should just catch it online, then...  The defroster and all...

I first learned of Digital Theatre by reading a brief article on it in the London Theatre Guide, and - like all things British - it scared me. The basic concept as described in the article is this: Digital Theatre or www.digitaltheatre.com is a website devoted to posting filmed productions of plays online shortly after they have closed.  Unlike archival filming, each production is shot from different angles over the course of several performances and edited together, allowing the at-home audience the luxury of close-ups and different perspectives.  This scared me.  I didn't do any more research at the time, but I knew this new movement would lead to nothing less than the complete demise of theatre as we know it.  After all, why would people make an effort to see a show in the theatre before it closes if they know its going to be online anyway?  We all know what the internet did to television!  As a theatre producer and artist, I decided I had to TAKE ACTION...so I posted the article on Facebook (with my own commentary, which read, simply "Eep") and left it at that.  Now THAT'S political, baby.

A few months passed and I came across this website again.  I cursed under my breath, and clicked the link.  I was very ready to hate this website.  Before I knew it, I was watching an online tutorial about how Digital Theatre works and what kind of productions are available.  As it turns out, my first impressions of Digital Theatre formed by skimming one article were... ill informed.  Heres' the real deal:

Digital Theatre IS a website that posts filmed productions of plays after they have closed.  But, unlike youtube or any major television network's website, you have to pay to download a production.  The cost to download is £8.99/play, about $15 CAN.  A student ticket to the same show, live, goes for only £1 more.  This isn't iTunes, folks.  The film crew works with the artists to choose the locations of the cameras as well as the way in which the different shots are edited together to serve the integrity of the staged production.  It even has the complete support of the various British theatre unions. Further, DV doesn't provide footage of every play from every theatre company, but picks and chooses from the best of the best.

“We’ve always said it doesn’t compete,” says Delamere of the digital alternative to a live performance. “Nothing will be available [online] until after a production has completed its live life. It’s meant to be complementary.’” ~ London Theatre Guide

So now I feel a bit silly.  I don't know that I agree with Delamere, but I admit, I am deeply interested in downloading Kafka's Monkey as presented by the Young Vic starring Kathryn Hunter.  I watched the trailer and found myself very curious.



So how do we feel about this technology?

I still have a few concerns. I still imagine that a few people will neglect that trip out to the theatre if they know it will be online eventually.   Not many, but a still a few.  I imagine more than one graduate student will download the latest West End hit for a one time fee of $15, and show this film to the students in her tutorial (year after year), rather than actually requiring them to attend the production.  Somebody will figure out a way to post it to Youtube.  Yes, I imagine that will happen.

On the other hand, this kind of service paves the path for a globalized theatre community.  Let's face it. The show is in Britain, so I wouldn't have seen Kafka's Monkey anyway (I used up all my Airmiles on a gift certificate for Bath & Body Works).  The Young Vic, then, isn't really losing my business because they didn't have it.  If anything, by expanding their market beyond geographical limitations, The Old Vic should be making money off this venture by capitalizing on a whole new audience for their work.  Could live theatre be the last business to finally go worldwide?

Further, I'm not even convinced they would lose business in the city of the production.  The cost of the download isn't significantly cheaper than the cost of a live ticket, and even though the download can be watched repeatedly, I don't know many theatregoers who regularly attend productions more than once anyway.  Besides, as we all know, nothing beats a live show.

Still, we should watch this technology carefully.  Currently, Digital Theatre only films a few shows and only releases them on the website after the live run has closed.  The download fee is enough to make one feel safe.  But what if these videos were posted during the run?  Or what if there was no charge to download?  Accessibility is as much a threat as it is a goal.  How would this technology serve theatre in, say, Calgary?  Which shows would you pay to see live?  Which would you pay to see online?

And of course, we are left with the biggest question of all.  If we film a play -  even from 30 different angles and using the artists' input to maintain integrity - is it still a play?  What happens when we remove the live element from an artform that is, by definition, live?

Or is it, by definition, live?

Comments

[AylaBean]

I don't know where I sit on this Jamie. But I must agree that the preview looks fantastic. And my main argument FOR the technology is that, like you, I was not in Britain during the run of the show, so wouldn't have been able to see it anyways.

[Simon]

Yeah, I just hate out-and-out hate it. I like to think of myself as a progressive theatre practitioner and fan, I believe that we have a responsibility to push and evolve the form constantly to keep it relevant, but it's this particular topic that I just can't seem to find a way to get with. I don't think it helps theatre, I don't think it moves theatre along with the times, I think it transforms it into something else.

The problem with broadcasting theatre isn't that it turns it into TV, it's that it turns it into bad TV. No matter how many camera angles you shoot it with, it's still a performance being given for another audience, a live audience, so the sound will be misdirected and tinny as the actor speaks to the back walls of the house, not to the mics. I've tried, really I have, but I can just never fully engage with the performance, and it always feels amateurish, even as I know that the performance to the room is great. Sometimes just because you can doesn't mean you should.

The only good argument I can think of is that one about being able to see shows you normally wouldn't because of inconvenient geography. The rabid theatre nerd in me gets that, and its so tempting. But then it pretty much becomes a study guide, and I'm not sure that's worth 15 bucks. You sort of get an idea of what it's like to experience the play but you don't experience the play, because every aspect of a production is geared towards telling the story to the other half of a room. Just like looking at http://kmccu0sh.umwblogs.org/files/2008/03/dscf2842.JPG" rel="nofollow">this isn't the same as standing in front of it.

The big challenge, the really big challenge faced by theatre as an art form right now is that while all the other disciplines are rapidly becoming cheaper and easier to work in, live performance remains untouched by technology. Writers blog and self-publish, musicians can cut CDs on a mac, digital painting is indiscernible from oils. But venue and performer fees remain the same, there's no download (outside of the tech booth, but that's a component, not the art) that's going to help us memorize lines and discover intention and project. I think we should use this one great uniqueness in the wide and wonderful world of art to our advantage and press it as a selling point, instead of offering watered-down versions of our art to the rest of the world. It's cool for us theatre geeks, sure, but it ain't going to bring us a new audience. Theatre is supposed to be about our community, that's what's always sustained it. Keep it local, I say. And let it be ephemeral. That's where the magic lies.

[Col]

Although I blogged above here in support of Digital Theatre (with the one reason that yes, we get exposed to international performances) I do agree it doesn't come close to live performances. As an audience member one of the most empowering things about watching live theatre is that you always get to chose what you want to look at. Yes, the lead is center stage right now giving a speech, but during that speech I get to chose to watch her for a bit, scan over to the other actors and watch their reactions, absorb some of the design bits, look at the audience a bit and watch others watching, back to the lead, etc. Filming a scene takes away all of those choices. You watch whatever they've decided to frame and display, and aside from staring at your feet, nothing else.

[I guess we’re going to h]

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