Friday, October 22, 2021
Theatre for One: A New Kind of Theatre Experience
The Theatre Times: Theatre is coming back slowly but surely. Though a difficult medium to translate online, it has been done with numerous shows, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Theatre for One: We Are Here is a collaboration between The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, the US-based Octopus Theatricals, and Kenya-based Nairobi Musical Theatre Initiative and Rainmaker Limited.
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6 comments:
One of the few good things to come out of the pandemic is that people are being bolder and more creative when it comes to what it means to do theater. I was never a fan of the “brady bunch” format of zoom theater where actors were each in their headshot square delivering their lines straight ahead. The format that barely works for office meeting made any performance feel incredibly stifled. However, this unique take of one actor and one performer for just ten minutes feels rather bold in its simplicity. One of the major issues with online performance is that the audience can’t connect as easily with the performance as its hard to be immersed in a screen when you are in your living room surrounded by distractions. Likewise, performers can’t get any energy from the audience if they can’t see or hear them. This intimate approach that requires the audience member to have their camera and microphone on resolves that issue and makes for sounds like a really interesting, if brief, moment of real theater.
During this time, we all struggle to form connections behind masks or even through screens, and for theatrical artists, it has raised the question of what fundamentally lies at the heart of theatre. We know it isn’t the stage, the house, or the seats you are in because the art of theatre lives on despite being limited to a camera's view. What I have learned recently is that the art of it all lies in the connection between audience and performer. The stripping of the performance down to this level created by The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, the US-based Octopus Theatricals, and Kenya-based Nairobi Musical Theatre Initiative and Rainmaker Limited illustrates this because the quality of the story told is simply reliant on the attention of the audience and the enthusiasm of the performer. There is no set, no lighting, no control. Honestly, this is probably why so many found it so incredible, no distractions beyond the simple flesh of the narrative.
I really love the ideas and storylines that they described this piece to be. Definitely something I would love to see. I am curious how the 10 minute format works. If you wanted to see all the shows but they play on different days at random...do you end up seeing some of them multiple times? Is it kind of like those mystery prizes that you end up with duplicates of while you vie for that last one you need to collect? Also, I find it surprising and intriguing that they manage to fit such a depth of storytelling and plot into a performance that lasts such a short time. I don't know how I feel about the performer being able to see the audience however. To me, that's a little bizarre. Is it like a zoom meeting so they're just staring into a grid of faces as they act? Do they watch for people's expressions? Also if the author had to mute their microphone, which I believe was stated in the piece but may have been my imagination, does that mean there's some level of audience participation? Can you talk to the performer after? Or engage with the plot? Very compelling format. I'd really like the privilege to attend.
I really enjoy the idea of engaging an audience into a piece of theatre much more actively than the stage allows for. One on one interaction, getting to ask questions, getting to know the character further. For the actors it feels even more like you are stepping into the body, mind and soul of someone feels a bit violating here to me, but it's not something that I’d ever really thought about or had a problem with acting for movies or for plays. I’d like to talk with some actors further now about their opinion on that? Are they trying to get totally into another character? Can they just stop in or out of that mindset or do they stick in it for the whole day? I’ve seen actors interact with each other normally during breaks and then snap back into character once rehearsal starts, but is that all of them? Is that what they like about it and why?
This exploration of digital theatre is honestly one of the most revolutionary and creative that I’ve read about so far. In a time where one-on-one interaction is much more limited, using online performance directly to one person to tell a one-person story brings back that loss of human connection that Zoom has had. I am amazed that this connection could be brought back virtually. The feeling of having a conversation with someone else, listening to a person’s story come to life in front of you, and in a short period of time that is more suitable to the digital age. All of these considerations have made a new medium of theatre. That’s been the problem the theatre industry has been facing this entire time, trying to adapt theatre to digital mediums. Adaptation isn’t possible for an industry that traditionally relies on crowds and spectacle. Digital theatre is a new medium entirely in itself, and it must be treated and developed as such. That’s why this show is so powerful, because it created new dramaturgy to convey emotion to an audience. This is the way forward.
Lou Baron talks about her experiences with the new form of digital theatre. Plays are preformed over Zoom and the
audience’s full attention is required. If you wish to spectate one of the shows created by the collaboration of The Arts Center
of NYU Abu Dhabi, the US-based Octopus Theatricals and Nairobi Musical Theatre Initiatives from Kenya, you have to
present your will to fully engage with the show. Anyone who is not actively paying attention to the actor is logged off. I
think this is one of the most important rules that helps bring a virtual performance to life. Prior to this project, the biggest
downside of digital theatre was the lack of communication between the performer and the audience. I think this initiative
does a great job at trying to keep theatre alive. The plays are very simple, 10 minutes long, played by one actor and using
very few props. The whole project is designed in a way to bring the real-life theatre experience to screens. Before and after
the performance, there is even a virtual lobby to post and discuss your experience with other spectators. I am interested in
attending one of these shows and seeing how close this virtual version of theatre feels to the real-life experience.
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