Monday, November 09, 2020
Play with the format: how theatre shows are dispensing with the stage
Theatre | The Guardian: Since mid-March, theatre-makers have been faced with a dilemma: how do you continue to make art when conventional theatre, the performing of stories to audiences in dark rooms, is not pandemic-compatible? Some were quick to embrace the shift to digital, while others resisted. A few suggested that maybe it was best to just stop making theatre at all for the time being, until things returned to normal.
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I really enjoyed reading this article, I haven’t been hearing that much about theatre happening around the world during this pandemic, so it was nice to read this little overview of what people are doing. I think a lot of these ideas are really creative and seem to be working well. It sounds like audiences are happy with the work that is being produced, but this article proposed an interesting question: is this still considered theatre even though the format has changed so much? Someone in the article said that it is possible to be theatre, and an installation, and a piece of art at the same time. And while I do agree, I do think some forms of pandemic theatre are skewed a little too far away from theatre to be considered theatre. It seems like the world is just creating a new genre of art and entertainment, which I think is a good thing. That leaves room for this kind of work to grow and continue after the pandemic and also room for live theatre to return.
It was great to read this general overview of what people in the industry are doing around the world during the pandemic. What I think is best, is that as I read some of these things going on, I could see them happening forever. One thing that this pandemic has done for the industry is make us think about how we can make theater more accessible. While, right now, the focus is on being able to produce something and entertain audiences from the comfort of their own home, or with minimal, socially distanced crowds, once theater starts to move back to the normal, I could see a lot of these ideas shifting to providing these in home experiences at a more affordable rate then that of the in person experiences. This helps create theatrical experiences for people who aren't able to afford theater tickets and the travel expenses that go with them.
I am tired of people asking of the work being produced during a pandemic “is it theater?” I have no time for that level of pretentious gatekeeping in 2020. The honest blunt answer to the question is no. It’s not theater in the way the people asking the question have defined it. However, it is storytelling, it is art, and it is paying the bills so cares about semantics. The more pedantic answer is that the most basic response to what theater requires is a performer and an audience, and by that criteria these new digital forms definitely qualify. A streamer on YouTube playing fortnite is theater. The MLB word series is theater. I think the nuanced answer lies in the middle. If these new digital formats are using the same skills that these theater makers developed for work done on the stage, then what does it matter if the audience is live or not?
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