The future of theatre: New
technologies, their role in modern theatre
and what it needs to survive.
The thing theatre has always needed and, up to
now, has never lacked, is an audience. Nowadays it has to compete for
an
audience with cinemas, television, concerts and a series of social
events that
make it difficult to retain its splendour. And so, people in the
theatre
business have tried to offer an innovation, going a step forward in the
world
of stage performance. For the last twenty years neither matter nor
space nor
time has been what it was since civilization began. ‘Virtual reality’
has now
become as much a description of many people’s lives as a technological
device.
Our age has become at best skeptical and at worst cynical of any sort
of public
obligation or ceremony. All of this conspires to make the survival of
theatre
more remarkable and more desirable. (1)
Special effects are now as common on stage as
they are in recently shot film. Actors
try to go hand in hand with the new technologies, making each play a
new
discovery. A perfect example of this is the work that the
As they say: “On an
artistic level, we're only trying to make new worlds onstage for the
actors.
The audience generally remains as audiences have since theatre began--
as
spectators looking into the world of the characters. The actors can
travel
through computer generated worlds that are both impossible to build
onstage and
just plain impossible to build. We can make hyper-realistic landscapes
(within
the boundaries of current technology), or totally abstract mindscapes.
We can
turn the stage into a giant TV for the actors to watch, or have them
inhabit
the projected world by becoming projections themselves. We're trying to
expand
the possibilities of performance while remaining faithful to the idea
of live
performance. Wherever possible we generate the projections in real
time, with
an operator interacting with actors while they're onstage.” (2)
But
theatre is not only about classic plays. It needs new blood and
talents, and it
needs money. Money is required to make ticket prices accessible to all,
to
secure buildings, to provide continuity for theatre companies, and to
underwrite risk taking; the power to engender real access will only be
achieved
by the efforts of the arts and educational organizations to abolish the
sense
of apartheid that exists between those who benefit from subsidy to the
arts and
those who feel excluded from them. This will never be achieved without
the
enthusiastic support of the state. (1)
Fortunately,
at least in
In
But money is not enough. As I mentioned before, there is a need for new, young writers who can provide new plays to capture the audience. You can’t legislate for talent; it’s inequitable and unpredictable. What money can do to help is allow talent to breathe, to be educated, trained, exercised, recognised and enjoyed. (1) Playwrights like Harold Pinter, Sarah Kane, Tom Stoppard and others that we have studied during this course give us the idea that whatever talent is at the moment, it is most certainly not dead.
And if it ever dies, we can always count on the classics. New versions of classic plays appear in almost every theatre, providing a new view on the play’s subject and using the newest technology to achieve what its author could never imagine. Shakespeare, Euripides, Wilde, their plays and their names will not die while a theatre company continues to perform their work. And this is ensured by several companies, amongst them the Globe. The Globe Theatre is a faithful reconstruction of the open-air playhouse designed in 1599, where Shakespeare worked and for which he wrote many of his greatest plays. The theatre season runs from May to September with productions of the work of Shakespeare, his contemporaries and modern authors. Each year the Globe Theatre Company rediscovers the dynamic relationship between the audience and the actor in this unique building. The Globe also welcomes international theatre companies to share the impact Shakespeare’s plays have had worldwide. (5)
And so, if new authors are writing, theatre is using top technology and it has the government’s financial support, will it die soon? The answer seems to be no.
Theatre is a medium that lives in the present tense; if it is to survive it must reflect the heartbeat of its time. The classics are our genetic link with the past and our means of decoding the present. As long as the theatre has the desire and ability to tell stories that have power, resonance and relevance to the way we live our lives, we shouldn’t mourn for its decline or feel that we are failing to solve the question: what direction does the theatre go in? (1)
(1)
Changing
Stages, Richard Eyre and Nicholas Wright,
(2) http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/HUA/TT/vr.html
(3) http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/articles/210500b.htm
(4) http://www.comminit.com/la/financiacion2003/lafinanciacion/lasldfecha-11.html
(5) http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/navigation/framesetNS.htm