What is the future of theatre within the context of new technologies?
Technology affects everything films, music and books but what if the aspects of theatre where you sit down and watch a play, only using your eyes to visualise and interpret the story drastically change.
Virtual Reality
Elements of virtual reality have been around since the 1860s (,"How did virtual reality begin?". Virtual Reality Society.) but only recently it has become extremely popular. Practitioners such as Brecht never wanted people to just “attend” the theatre watch a play and leave, he despised the idea of naturalistic theatre, which greatly ties in with virtual reality. I have had the privilege of incorporating virtual reality and live theatre, which at the start we told the audience to watch a clip through their phones which was used virtual reality after this we performed our live theatre. I think they really enjoyed this new aspect of theatre, especially how it’s nothing they have seen before. They began to ask us how the process was for us because the normal procedure for theatre work is auditions, rehearsals, tech and then performance. But ours was slightly different as it was rehearsals for the virtual reality performance than performance. Rehearsals for the live performance than performance again. What if virtual reality was included in all performances,? What if people sat down and watched a whole theatre performance with virtual reality goggles on. I believe this can have a positive and negative aspect. The positive side may include that people who are not able to fully experience reality, could explore the Virtual World and still experience a full life. Another positivity may be that virtual reality gives a chance to experience things that are impossible in real life as if you were actually there, for example, fighting zombies or standing in a war field. On the other hand, a negative factor could be that the price of watching a theatre show could increase because of the new use of virtual reality, which means that some people will no longer be able to attend the theatre. In addition to this the fast-paced development of Virtual Reality, there is a lack of laws regarding these worlds. People can say and do things in these worlds that are illegal in reality. Lastly many people may become over-addicted to living in these virtual worlds, and as a result, forget or neglect their responsibilities in real life. (Brown, January 4th 2019) In conclusion, I do think that virtual reality would be a great way to move theatre into the future even though the negative aspects could be drastic. I still think that this is a great way to put together technology and theatre.
2. Brown,L. “Pros and Cons of Virtual Reality,” Wondershare, Retrieved 13th January 2019, https://filmora.wondershare.com/virtual-reality/pros-cons-virtual-virtual.html
Use of mobile phones in the theatre
Traditionally mobile phones have been an absolute no-no in the world of theatre. People see the theatre as a place where you step out of reality and be in the world of the play. But what will happen if mobile phones could be added to enhance performances? I have watched a performance which was called the believers are but brothers at the Bush theatre (Alipoor, 13th January 2019) where we were all added to a WhatsApp group chat and we were told to put our notifications on loud in which we were able to text and the actor on the stage was telling us 3 stories and parts of the story he himself wrote in the group. This also has positive and negative factors. The positivity may be that we are connecting what we use in our everyday life with something that can be seen as a luxury to some people. In addition to this because of people concentration span is getting less this may help with how people can watch a show without getting bored and frustrated with unable to stay focus. On the other hand a negative side could be that people lose the spark of a theatre performance they will no longer be focusing on enjoying the show they will be looking at their phones instead, because they told us to turn our notifications on people who get a large number of notifications their phone will be making a large amount of noise which may be irritating to the other audience member and could also put off the actor when he is telling the story. Lastly, a negative aspect that you have to consider when putting together mobile phones and theatre, is that what if some of the audience members don’t have a mobile phone that is not compatible with WhatsApp or an app that you are trying to connect them with or they don’t have a mobile phone at all. This means that they will not be able to be involved and they might feel that they are not enjoying the performance and much as they could be. So how does the production team make the show so that people who can’t or don’t want to use their phones can still feel that they are involved? In conclusion, mobile phones should not be used in the theatre only because I think it takes away from the joy of sitting back watching a performance and not worrying about anything for roughly an hour. If all performances suddenly started using mobile phones then it wouldn’t be surprising if the actors found that they had to start fighting to get the audience’s attention this could lose the flavour of a good performance.
3. Alipoor, J. ‘The believers are but brothers,” Bush theatre,2017, Retrieved 13th January 2019.
Headphones in the theatre
The purpose of headphone is to concentrate a quiet and private sound in the ear of the listener. A lot of people associate headphones with having alone time and being isolated, which is a total contrast to why people go to the theatre, people generally go to the theatre to enjoy entertainment while spending time with people even though silence is necessary when watching a play except for pantomimes and musicals. But what if every time you sat down in the theatre they were headphones in which you listened to the actors. In 2016 I watched a show in the Barbican called the encounter (Barbican, 13 January 2019) whereas we sat “down there were headphones provided in which we watch a one-man show where he talked about a travel story to the rainforest. The binaural technology was extremely effective especially when an aeroplane goes overhead. You can hear the roar moves across the space above you, and when the actor whispered into the microphone on stage it sounded, as he was only 2cm away from you. This binaural technology does have positives and negatives as well as anything else. The positive factors include sound quality of headphones, when going to the theatre the back seats are usually not as good as the front seats but with using headphones during performances everyone sound quality will be the exactly the same. Another positive element would be that there will be no distractions from other audience members while you're in the theatre as the headphones will make you feel like your by yourself listening to this story. On the other hand, negative factors may include that this new technology will hinder people with hearing impairments, for example, people with hearing aids or deaf. This is not practical for the near future because if all theatres started having binaural technology this means that they will no longer be able to go to the theatre. Another negativity will be health and safety of using headphones, depending on the headphones that will be used the ones that are directly inserted into your ear canal could increase your chances of hearing the loss in addition to this, apart from the fact that the theatre should be changing the headphones after each show. There might be an increase of bacterial infections from people sharing headphones especially inner ear. Another positive aspect is the Language barrier, a wide range people with a wide range of languages can enjoy the same piece of theatre without being annoyed that they can’t join it as much because they don’t know the language. This does have a negative side effect because they would need to get a wide range of language stored into the database but what a person comes to the theatre but they don’t have their language stored. Lastly how many languages will be stored? And how much will this cost? In conclusion, I don’t think binaural technology will be effective in the future because after my research it seems that there are more disadvantages that advantage of dealing with headphones and theatre.
4. Barbican “The encounter,” Barbican, 2016, Retrieved 13th January 2019https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2018/event/complicitesimon-mcburney-the-encounter
Holograms
Holography goes back all the way to 1947 when a British (native of Hungary) scientist Dennis Gabor. A hologram is a physical structure that refracts light into an image. A holographic image can be seen by looking into an illuminated holographic print or by shining a laser through a hologram and projecting the image onto a screen. I haven’t seen a hologram personally but I did read an article in which in 2012 at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival the deceased rapper Tupac Shakur performed through a holographic form. 2 years later at the Billboard music awards, Michael Jackson performed through Hologram. Holograms are mainly used to test different materials used in constructions but If this is possible just from a music festival then how can holograms enhance the world of theatre. As always there will be pros and cons. One pro is that is will be cost effective you will no need a full cast of actors that you will need to pay from each show instead you can replay the same hologram clip which will be one price in addition to this you won’t need to worry about people not being able to make the show as the hologram is much more reliable. Another pro is that there is greater control, with Holograms if you wanted your set to look a certain way and you want to see how it will look in a more precise way you can really visualise it other than a cardboard and wood version. You can also change things without making a whole new copy. The cons of using holograms in theatre are that it requires expensive technology which means to make up for the cost the prices for theatre tickets which may disappoint some people as they will no longer be able to afford. Lastly, another con is that Holograms can only reflect properly of certain lighting so if there is something else going on in the scene where there is a huge amount of lighting then the Hologram won’t be as effect. This means that you won’t be able to watch a full length show that was just Holograms unless you only had one lighting. (Wakim, 13th January 2019)
5. Wakim, Marielle, “After Months of Delays, the World’s First Hologram Theater Is Finally Opening in Hollywood” Los Angeles Magazine, September 28th 2017 https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/months-delays-worlds-first-hologram-theater-finally-opening-hollywood/
To conclude the future of technology and theatre is changing, but I do believe the changes in theatre are slower compared to technology changes in other fields.
Jaychelle Smith
Bibliography
3D Holograms by Matthias, M at https://magic-holo.com/en/what-is-a-3d-hologram/
After Months Of Delay The World's First Hologram Theater Finally Opening In Hollywood by Marrielle W
European Theatre Lab: Drama goes digital by By Maren, D at https://www.europeantheatrelab.eu/field-survey-part-1-seeing/
The believers are but brothers by Javaad, A at https://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/event/the-believers-are-but-brothers/
The encounter by Simon, M at https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2018/event/complicitesimon-mcburney-the-encounter
The Wonderful World Of Sound And Interactions by rajitblog at https://thewonderfulworldofsound.wordpress.com/author/rajithblog/
Trueman, Matt (2009) “Warning: this play may contains headphones” . The Guardian, 8th December
Virtual reality by Breon, K & Edward, O-N.
Virtual reality by wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_reality#History
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