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 Even before COVID-19 closed
theatres, they had distributed recorded
performances via cinemas for people who could
not get to the West End or Broadway.
The pandemic has turned even the smallest
theatres into producers of streamed content
watched far beyond their local communities.
Most say a screen cannot replace a live
performance, but many also predict digital
theatre is here to stay, and a generation that
has grown up with computers and smartphones
might even prefer it.
The Royal Shakespeare Company says it is
combining digital skills with traditional art.
Mixed reality productions allow actors to work
alongside technological versions of
Shakespeare's more unearthly characters and
digital events have invited audiences worldwide
to contribute to the action from their
computers.
"We’re living R+D right now. If we look at what
the pandemic did, it cracked open the future.
And this is the first draft and I think that’s
terribly exciting," Sarah Ellis, director of
digital development at the RSC, told Reuters in
an interview.
"We have an audience that’s local to us, but we
also have this huge global audience, which is a
massive potential."
Research by the RSC during lockdowns found
audiences willing to pay for digital content and
prepared to watch online even when theatres
reopen.
MAGICAL SWITCHER
Theatres are unanimous in wanting to recreate
the tension of a drama as it unfolds.
That used to mean expensive technical crews. But
a few months before before the pandemic took
hold, a transformative piece of equipment became
available.
It is known as a switcher and the one generating
particular excitement - because it costs just
$295 - is the ATEM Mini produced by Blackmagic
Design, an Australian company that has worked
with the RSC and provided technology for
blockbusters such as Avatar and Game of Thrones.
It allows switching between four different
cameras, meaning a single performance - as
opposed to the many takes required to create a
movie - can provide all the angles and close-ups
needed. It also permits rapid editing, so
performances can be shared almost immediately.
Blackmagic founder Grant Petty said he wanted to
help new talent by providing easy-to-use
technology.
"When I first got into this industry, I found
that creative people were being sidelined and
the business people were the ones that were
running everything. I just felt that was wrong
and if the equipment was more affordable, it
would empower creative people," he told Reuters.
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 RISING FROM THE ASHES
Theatre Charlotte is a small theatre that has
used the switcher to stream to an audience
across the United States and Canada.
It is North Carolina's longest continually
producing community theatre, but faced an even
more uncertain future than most after a fire
last year ravaged its 80-year-old headquarters.
Its previous theare also burned down, forcing
actors to perform where they could. Acting
Executive Director Chris Timmons said the
company had rediscovered the "renewed energy of
theatre not just being a building".
Timmons expects to carry on streaming even when
Theatre Charlotte has a refurbished venue next
year, and can imagine a younger generation less
interested in the rituals of pre-performance
dinners and after-show drinks.
"Maybe we’ll look back in a few years and see
that there’s this whole generation that would
rather just watch it on a screen than have that
other social aspect to it. I think there’s
certainly room for both," he said.
Michigan-based start-up Colvin Theatrical
agrees. Founder Cody Colvin says many
productions are loss-making at the best of times
and streaming can address that.
"Fundamentally, we’re going to hit a point where
selling tickets is not going to pay the bills
anymore," he said, citing rising rents,
insurance and other costs.
"Theatre will be like sports and like comedy,
where there will be a live audience paying a
premium to go to the event and then it will be
broadcast. That’s the only way to scale."
The live experience will still be hard to beat.
Neil Darlison, director of theatre at Arts
Council England, said the council supported the
use of digital tools to engage a wider audience,
but the appetite for live theatre was still
strong.
"I don’t think streaming is going to be as
disruptive to theatre as it is to, say, cinema
or indeed it was to music. Theatre’s USP is the
collective experience – which is much harder to
replicate digitally," he said.
(Reporting by Barbara Lewis; Editing by Giles
Elgood)
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