So here's the idea, as best I can explain it. Lynn is writing a play for an English actor. It's for the "Biographies In A Bag" series, but there's a specific challenge to conquer. The actor is pretty much confined to his bedroom as he fights MS. So he can't tread the boards of the stage, but he could appear projected on a screen on stage... And his projected image could act alongside another actor... And we could stream this performance back to our friend in his bed, so that he can witness his own performance.
One of the nicest pieces of feedback from our live stream of Rachel Ogilvy's performance was from a lady, who thanked us as she enjoyed watching great theatre without having to plan her evening around wheelchair access. So clearly we must continue, and to continue we must push some more boundaries.
Our actor is known for his fantastic improv work and his performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. So how about he has his Hollywood debut streamed to a theatre in Edinburgh as part of the festival? And how about we stream him live to both theatres? And how about we live stream Elvis watching the live stream of both theatres?
With technology there are few limits, only budgets and timescales and risks, though I'm not sure how interested Elvis is in theatre anymore.
Ah, I always suspected you were secretly new media artists; now I know for sure! ;-). On the serious: nice idea for the show. I know a number of people doing telematic performance in musical collaborations or art installations - I'm less familiar with it in theatre. (Then again I'm not very familiar wtih anything in theatre!) Googling "telematic theatre" I find a little bit but not much.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things musicians have to deal with when collaborating via streaming is latency. I guess it'll depend some on how technically you do the streams between the two actors, but I'm curious whether it'll be an issue for them in the end. Musicians sometimes "solve" this problem by working latency into their composition and performance, and I wonder if that would make sense or even be necessary for theatrical performance.
Anyway: "Like."
Re: my previous comment: Oh, wait - did you mean the performance by the actor with MS would be prerecorded? I'd thought you meant the actors would interact live, just in different places. Leave it to uebergeek to reinvent the piece! But don't worry, I still suspect you of being secret new media artists. ;-)
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