The Australian: "AUDIENCE participation at the theatre used to mean that if you were sitting in the front row you had to be prepared to duck, blush or cringe.
These days, technology has introduced new ways to make theatre interactive. While the standard scripted play, performed without interruption before a silent, seated audience, is still the most common theatre experience, sound and video technologies have put powerful tools into the theatremaker's hands."
16 comments:
Theater that is interactive through technological means is becoming more and more popular. However, i can't help thinking that part of the reason it is so interesting to audiences is because people can't just sit and watch a play. Society is always on the go, and it seems as though people cannot just listen anymore.
This project sounds interesting though, and I'm sure it will be successful. It is certainly a creative path that theater seems to be heading in. To make the larger part of the cast audience members, and allow the plot to be turned around, or mixed up by them is risky, but entertaining.
This seems to be the direction theater is heading these days. Interactive shows seem at the forefront of what is most popular and talked about, and this show is a prime example of why. As Sylvianne said, people often have a hard time sitting and listening. They want to be involved somehow, or their attention wanders. For better or worse, that is becoming part of our culture. This show not only involves them, but gives them such control over exactly where the show goes. I wonder if the buttons, knobs, and phones at the consoles actually work, and affect the show though. That would add a whole new element of chaos to the show that might make it also feel more realistic. The actors and technicians working on this show must be at the top of their game to be pulling this off night after night, and constantly upgrading the show.
As Sylvianne and Annie said, this seems more and more common. I find it very interesting and appealing. Especially the interaction with the live actors and the actors that are in a different room and being viewed via the video screen. The few shows that I have seen that use similar methods of integrating technology have been extremely successful. The more the audience feels like they are part of a show, the more they enjoy it.
I think that his is a great idea. I like the idea of the interactivity between the seats and the audience. The prospect of changing what goes on onstage is a interesting prospect from the audience members perspective. My dad really loves all things NASA and space. I feel that this would be the perfect show for him. In today's world, peoples form of entertainment is becoming more an more interactive. This world of interactivity must spill over into theater inorder for it to continue as a viable industry.
This is the future of theater. The idea of theater as an interactive event where you as an audience member has a say is truely the answer to theater's problems. Theater is suddenly not strong and fun, not boring where you sit in a dark room for 2.5 hours. Instead you are active and effective to the whole. This is theater I wanna work on and create. It allows for re-viewability rather then theater now where when you see it once you never need to see it again. To get people to see the show two, three... four - five times that is five times the money! No longer would theater be a one time deal. This is just what I wanna do. What I wanna create. Interactive theater.
This reminds me of a slightly more refined space camp. When i went to space camp, you take up the same roles, and work through a script to put on a mission. The only way i see this as different is that it has plot points beyond just the mission. Its an interesting concept however, one that i would have to experience to make full judgment on. It seems to me that the experience is not as interactive as it is billed to be- the mission control actually controls very little. But when you put buttons in front of people strange things happen. This is an exciting idea- one i would love to be involved in. I just question the claim that it is a new type of experience.
When I was in 4th grade, I went to the Montreal Science Center and saw a show. This show was an interactive video where you had to destroy germs inside a person. Depending on how many germs the audience as a whole was able to destroy changed the duration and path of the show.
Though it is not a live performance, the idea has been around for a while: engage your audience. I feel like bringing this same technology to theater will revive it and bring new life to this old art form. At the same time, I feel like the type of theater this article speaks of might be so drastically different from the conventional theater that I think the entertainment world has to look at the direction interactive theater is taking and decided whether or not it should be categorized into a completely new art form.
The explanation of this production reminds me of some kind of ride you would be on if you were to go to the Epcot Center in Disney World. People have always loved being able to interact with entertainment, and it's fascinating to see that becoming a part of the theater world as well. Although I don't feel that all shows should start becoming interactive just because they can, I can see shows like this continuing to be successful. I'm also impressed by the ability of the actors and production crew to go with what the audience is prompting while maintaining a story line.
While this idea seems new and inventive for the stage, this really feels like the kind of thing that places like Disney Land/World have been doing for generations now. I know comparing a Disney theme park attraction to an actual stage production is a comparison of things that only somewhat resemble each other, but the idea that the audience has to do things for the plot to progress is something that the major amusements parks have been doing for years. I may have missed it in the article, but I would be curious to see what happens when an audience member refuses to participate and how the rest of the play works around that issue.
I think that theatre should be this interactive. Whether the interaction between actors and audience occurs due to technology or more old fashioned means, I like both, but ultimately, theatre should be an interactive experience. I think that this interaction allows the audience to connect more with the story and get more from the performance. Without some interaction between audience and actors, we have to rely entirely on the play itself to attract the audience member's attention and interest, which can happen sometimes, but I think that this interaction, such as the Apollo 13 project, creates a much better experience overall for the audience.
This production sounds awesome. I think that theatre where the audience is really involved is what is going to be more and more popular in the coming years. Our generation is the me generation, where people always need to feel like they're a part of what's going on, so regular theatre just isn't enough for todays audiences. This may be seen as a bad thing, but maybe it's good for the theatre world to have to go through a change right now. I think it would be really great if the makers of this show can keep making more shows like this, where the audience is really involved.
I don't think that this is a terribly new and innovative as the article is making it out to be, but I certainly the idea of highly interactive theatre. Engaging the audience is certainly a good tactic for involving them and not having a snoring audience after two hours of endless monologue, but where is the line between theatre and an amusement park ride then?
This feels like, as Brian said, a demonstration in group building at space camp, or like Charley said, more like a Disney ride. We've always aimed to entertain people, to captivate them with a story to fulfill their curiosity, but I feel like this is straddling line between "cheap" entertainment and theatre.
The idea of having the audience playing a more active role in a theater performance is one that has been thrown around more and more recently, and this seems to be the natural progression as we move forward as to how theater is going to change and become different as we start to work in the industry. For this production, the use of the consoles and picking of an audience member is really interesting idea in terms of creating a different play every night, and going and having a unique experience. Hats off to the actors and crew running this show because with the interactive technology involved, it's a very different and probably much more difficult show to run
The more hands-on the experience can become the more likely the audience is to be fully engaged in the performance, and that engagement is what will really sell them on it. There's always the risk that audience members might not be able (or willing) to play their parts, but you can also get hecklers in traditional theater. When the audience is a part of the show and not just people sitting in a dark room they'll take more from the experience and be more likely to remember what they saw, if they just sat and watched it then it's something quickly forgotten.
All I hope is that theater maintains its integrity as theater. Things that are...performance art or experimental or alternative terms of entertainment should be billed as such. Perhaps we are loosing the notion of "theater" as it were to the 21st century, and perhaps that definition is changing.
I am by no means discounting this style of entertainment though. A collaborative, group oriented albeit scripted experience can be quite engaging. It sounds a little bit more like a thrill ride at an amusement park than theater though...
Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I'd rather go to a performance where I'm paying to sit silently in the dark than have to be a part of the action any day. However, a lot of people love to be part of the action, so this new direction that theater is taking is probably a very positive one. It's almost a new art form--making the action of the play so dependent on the interaction between cast members and audience members. It will be interesting to see how different companies incorporate this new style in the future.
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