Wednesday, December 02, 2020
Does online theatre really need to be live?
Exeunt Magazine: When artists talk about what makes theatre and performance special, the word ‘liveness’ reverberates through the air. It has so many exciting associations – a whiff of danger and sweat and romance and religion all stewed together. Artists like to compare live performances to other emotionally charged communal experiences, like church services (presumably not of the CofE variety) or protests or raves. In the past, ‘liveness’ in performance has usually been synonymous with another favoured concept, ‘being in a room together’. But how can you carry those ideas through to the realm of online theatre – and do you need to?
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This article brings up a point and a conversation that I've been trying to have for months. Short answer, no, it does not have to be live to be considered online theater. However, we run into a really annoying caveat to this entire thing, it looks really bad. There is a reason that feature length films and mini-series' have far larger budgets than that of theater normally, it costs much more to make it look good. I think we're running into this issue here at CMU, we can either make kind of bad looking theater in a digital sphere and the audience will forgive us easier, or we can attempt to make a film and have it look like a bunch of middle schoolers and a camcorder. The fact of the matter is, you have to make decisions based off of your expertise and the skills and talents of your team. We keep running in circles trying to revolutionize, or be crazy optimistic about what these digital shows will look like, but we need to start being real with ourselves, nothing will beat or even come close to the original.
I agree strongly with this article. Liveness is a huge part of what makes theater very special. I’ve never thought about comparing live theater to that of a religious experience, but being backstage is unlike anything else. When people describe theater as making magic, I agree wholeheartedly. But trying to translate that special quality to online performances is something that I have yet to see. And grappling with this question of liveness is what theatermakers are attempting to unpack and handle as online performances become more and more common during this pandemic. And considering that theater will probably be one of the last things to come back in full force, it’s important that the magic of online performances preserves that of a live performance to get people to keep watching and funding these companies so that they may return to live performances eventually. I do find it funny that people are calling online theater crap film… cause it definitely is.
I was just responding to an article to arouse a similar question of “does online theatre really need to be live” in order to be considered theatre? And honestly, I think no, it does not have to be live- it does not have to be anything at this point- let me elaborate. So because we are stuck in this pandemic, there are a lot of things that everyone has to sacrifice and compromise on- one of them being theatre. The biggest concern was obviously how are we able to produce theatre if it isn’t live and if we are not physically in the space with one another. With this initial question have come many a rendition of what theatre is and could be in this day and age, pandemic edition. With this being said, I think all restrictions or rules of theatre could really go out the window from this point on, especially in the pandemic edition, where all of our resources are scarce.
I think that theatre can be done online, but once it becomes pre-recorded then it moves into the realm of films / movies and not theatre. When things are pre-recorded, I think, as an audience we expect a much more cleaned up or perfected version, since there should have also been time to edit things out or re-do any mess ups that happen. The live aspect where things can go wrong, mistakes can happen, and things can be improvised is sort of what defines the magic of theatre. So to take that away is kind of taking away a major component. It’s like rewatching a recording of a musical we put on in the past - it feels greatly more like watching a movie rather than a theatrical performance. I do understand that considering the pandemic and trying to keep people safe that theatre can not be what it normally is, but there are probably good ways of doing live performances online that sort of give a similar experience, even if it’s far from as good as the real thing.
I found this article very interesting. Since the pandemic started I don't think I have experienced much theatre, I watched a few of the play readings by broadway.com and the sondheim special . but those were prerecorded. What did make it feel specispecial is that it was premiering on youtube at a certain time and I knew that there were thousands of people watching like myself. It did make it feel a little more special than if i were just watching the recording on my own time. I think the hesitation to do the full live theatre comes into play because it is a daunting task to make virtual live theatre. We are much more familiar with the film world and filming something that has already been done is much more effective and can be easier to handle. Virtual theatre requires delivering everyone the materials and then having the actors be their own camera operator lighting designer, makeup artist, among other things.
I think the first question that needs to be asked is does theatre need to be online? What are you losing when you put up a recording that you shot over two days and two nights with some overnight work (Looking at you Hamilton). Sure, I love being able to watch plays and musicals from the comfort of my own home, but at what point does it no longer become theatre. Movies have budgets into the 100millions in some cases, theatres do not. If it is not done right, it looks like a high school production. I love going to the theatre. I love losing myself into the world of the play even if only for a few hours and I love how live theatre can change you. These are things that I don’t get from a recording. I don’t feel the same energy, passion, or pain. COVID has thrown a wrench into the works to be sure, but we will get through it and we will get back on stages all over this country. Let’s not start sacrificing that in person experience just because it’s cheaper for producers.
The topic covered in this article has been something that I have been struggling with and debating with myself. I still have not fully decided on an opinion but I am leaning towards no. I do not think anything online has to be live to be considered theatre and I honestly do think it would be more beneficial if it was not live. Frankly when theatre happens live mistakes happen and while that is a part of the beauty behind theatre however I think that is broken once you see it through a movie screen. I may be a little crazy but I think the audience is a lot less understanding with mistakes and impressed by the recovery when the show is seen through a screen. It seems like they could easily just switch camera angles and avoid showing the mistake all together. I think pre-recorded live theatre works great to make theatre accessible to all audiences not just the wealthy that can afford a Broadway priced ticket, however it does feel like there is something missing for the people who have seen the shows in person. I think currently our priority should be keeping people home and safe so doing theatre online is the best option and with pre-recorded shows one can make sure social distancing is taking place at all times.
No! It! Does! Not! Look at the Playground festival we just had. There were a considerable number of productions that felt as much like theatre as they possibly could that were prerecorded. I also think that taking the weight off, in terms of technical malfunctions, will help the process so much. I know that part of the thrill of theatre is that it is live, but these are already extenuating circumstances. We do not need to throw even more complication into what is already a challenging thing to navigate. I know that it takes it even further from the idea that it is theatre, but, right now, we are in a position where we just need to make money and keep putting our work into the world to survive. This situation is unbelievably complex already. I think the purists can take a seat for a moment and just help us do what needs to be done to survive this mess.
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