After reading Bryan Appleyard’s feature in the Sunday Times Culture supplement, I am rather surprised at his positive outlook for Digital Theatre. But surely he is missing one large point – what about the damage it could possibly inflict on the younger generation’s relationship with theatre.
This new website which was launched last night works like 4OD or BBC iplayer, where you can download full pieces of theatre for £8.99 a go. Once downloaded it is yours to keep and play over and over. However you cannot pass it around.
Online and available now is the English Touring Theatre Company’s Far from the Madding Crowd. However, I attempted to register this morning and had difficulties.
From what I have read in the media so far the benefits of this concept are that it is cheaper than most theatre tickets and is accessible for all.
Is it cheaper than going to the theatre itself?
I never spend more than £20 on a theatre ticket and most of the time I will find something for £10. Theatre is the cheapest it has been for years. With the National’s Travelex seasons and A Night Less Ordinary schemes that provide free tickets for 16-25 year olds, it has never been a better time to visit the theatre on a regular basis.
In London it is often cheaper than a visit to the cinema.
As far as accessibility goes, ok, it is difficult if you live outside of London to keep up with the ever changing landscape of the West End and Fringe theatres in this theatrically vibrant city. But if DT does takes off surely all it will do is encourage laziness.
Young audiences
This is all very well for Bryan Appleyard and the likes who have witnessed theatre progress and transform during its history – but what about children now who have not yet been introduced to the bliss that is live theatre.
What a dreadful thought that drama teachers overwhelmed by the bureaucracy of school trips may choose the easy option and sit kids in a classroom to play them a DVD and call it theatre.
Regardless of the promise of “multiple camera angles and high-definition technology to bring you closer to the drama and emotion of each production,” (Tom Shaw – co-founder of DT – quoted in Appleyard’s feature) this will not capture the atmosphere of the theatre space nor the buzz an audience gets from other audience members’ reactions.
Although recordings, on existing DVDs, of productions are often one-dimensional I don’t’ see how these new recordings offer anymore than the opportunity to be an audience member – watching an audience – watching a live play.
What theatres are using the website?
So far, the RSC, the Almeida, the Young Vic and the Royal Court have all embarked on partnerships with DT but the National has not – bizarre, seeing as they were one of the first theatres to broadcast their plays to cinema screens across the UK. However, these were live. I predict they have not come to an agreement with DT in the hope of retaining exclusivity and the retention of the belief that theatre should always be live.
People will always go to the theatre and plays won’t get uploaded onto the site until the show has closed. Therefore I don’t think this will pose a threat to ticket sales and therefore live theatre, but it does worry me how this will affect the drama education of children in school today.
iTheatre?
After reading Bryan Appleyard’s feature in the Sunday Times Culture supplement, I am rather surprised at his positive outlook for Digital Theatre. But surely he is missing one large point – what about the damage it could possibly inflict on the younger generation’s relationship with theatre.
This new website which was launched last night works like 4OD or BBC iplayer, where you can download full pieces of theatre for £8.99 a go. Once downloaded it is yours to keep and play over and over. However you cannot pass it around.
Online and available now is the English Touring Theatre Company’s Far from the Madding Crowd. However, I attempted to register this morning and had difficulties.
From what I have read in the media so far the benefits of this concept are that it is cheaper than most theatre tickets and is accessible for all.
Is it cheaper than going to the theatre itself?
I never spend more than £20 on a theatre ticket and most of the time I will find something for £10. Theatre is the cheapest it has been for years. With the National’s Travelex seasons and A Night Less Ordinary schemes that provide free tickets for 16-25 year olds, it has never been a better time to visit the theatre on a regular basis.
In London it is often cheaper than a visit to the cinema.
As far as accessibility goes, ok, it is difficult if you live outside of London to keep up with the ever changing landscape of the West End and Fringe theatres in this theatrically vibrant city. But if DT does takes off surely all it will do is encourage laziness.
Young audiences
This is all very well for Bryan Appleyard and the likes who have witnessed theatre progress and transform during its history – but what about children now who have not yet been introduced to the bliss that is live theatre.
What a dreadful thought that drama teachers overwhelmed by the bureaucracy of school trips may choose the easy option and sit kids in a classroom to play them a DVD and call it theatre.
Regardless of the promise of “multiple camera angles and high-definition technology to bring you closer to the drama and emotion of each production,” (Tom Shaw – co-founder of DT – quoted in Appleyard’s feature) this will not capture the atmosphere of the theatre space nor the buzz an audience gets from other audience members’ reactions.
Although recordings, on existing DVDs, of productions are often one-dimensional I don’t’ see how these new recordings offer anymore than the opportunity to be an audience member – watching an audience – watching a live play.
What theatres are using the website?
So far, the RSC, the Almeida, the Young Vic and the Royal Court have all embarked on partnerships with DT but the National has not – bizarre, seeing as they were one of the first theatres to broadcast their plays to cinema screens across the UK. However, these were live. I predict they have not come to an agreement with DT in the hope of retaining exclusivity and the retention of the belief that theatre should always be live.
People will always go to the theatre and plays won’t get uploaded onto the site until the show has closed. Therefore I don’t think this will pose a threat to ticket sales and therefore live theatre, but it does worry me how this will affect the drama education of children in school today.
This entry was posted on October 25, 2009 at 2:29 pm and is filed under Arts Comment with tags Amy Dowd, Bryan Appleyard, Digital Theatre. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.