Monday, January 18, 2021
A (sort of) Manifesto: Running Between Theatre and Film, Reimagining the Live Experience
www.intermissionmagazine.ca: Most artists can take a tiny budget and produce magic. We’re constantly creating new worlds, images and stories with nothing but shoestrings and determination. That is both our superpower and our curse. When done well, most audience members will never know the difference between a show by a large theatre house and one from an emerging collective. It’s very much a part of the joy of creation: finding interesting solutions and discoveries, stretching our health, bodies and imaginations, at times to the breaking point, in order to see our visions come to life.
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This article is successful as a whole and its individual components. One of my favorite parts is how Czuba addresses that while many of us are likely not over the moon about virtual theatre, there is potential. After all, as Mike writes, “The gatekeeper’s gates are crumbling.” Rarely have I read many pieces such as this one that are not afraid to speak the truth as they see it. Now it seems more news sources are interested in being non confrontational towards large companies than being honest. This article, without naming names, does not seem too concerned on that front. One such aspect of this article is that in which Czuba mentions awful productions being done by large companies when smaller companies lacked funds to produce work with other potential. Mike also addresses the truth of burnout and stress and how handheld devices change the game of virtual theatre. Czuba does an excellent job of showing that his words have truth, which make the end of the article and its truth hurt more. It was hard to read, even though I am sure many of us know it to some degree, that virtual is the future. While I am working to embrace it, I hope we still have live in-person audiences and creative processes as well as the virtual.
I loved this article and how it laid out how creators can do a show in the pandemic. I loved the positive note at the beginning, that “The gatekeeper’s gates are crumbling“ as in they do not need the legitimacy of the physical theater spaces anymore. Because of that, they playing field is level. In this digital space, those artists who are creative and make something magical out of minimal resources are going to triumph over the big theaters who make okay and sometimes awful theater with lots of money.
I liked the tip about doing one act plays because they are more palatable especially when you don’t have great effects and other things to keep audience engagement. And I get why they emphasized that theater is NOT film but then they go on to describe things that the film industry has perfected for the screen because it just comes across better. This article also made me think about the device of the audience because a show will look a lot different on a phone vs a wide screen TVs and we need to be aware of that.
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