When the pandemic forced theatres to close their physical venues, creative practioners had to find a new way of sharing their ideas, leading to an explosion of digital content and exciting new ways of working.
In this anthology, Transmedia Theatre Plays, edited and introduced by playwright Caridad Svich, the net is cast wide to encompass different forms and practices.
Although I consider myself an enthusiastic consumer of digital or transmedia theatre content, I had only seen one of the seven productions presented here (Odds On, by Dante or Die), which worked by involving the viewer in making choices relating to a gaming platform).
In providing a sense of the full experience, Svich made the decision to include material that had been livestreamed alongside a podcast, a climate change activist manifesto, and much more.
Reading this material offers an idea of what theatre can be if we remove ourselves from the confines of one single space where the audience and performers are present. Each show is presented as closely as possible to the original experience (in the case of T.M., by Ontroerend Goed, which was highly visual, a mock-up of screenshots depicting a typical show is provided).
Some shows were originally planned as live performances, then quickly reivented during lockdown (every dollar is a soldier/with money you’re a dragon by Daniel York Loh), others became shows of circumstance (the radio version of I Hate It Here: Stories from the End of the Old World by Ike Holter).
As a textual primer to the art of transmedia theatre, this is indispensable, and flies the flag for future exploration of what can be achieved by blurring the edges of what is ‘theatre’, ‘what is film’, and anything in-between.
Theatre in Quarantine’s lip synch drag piece I Am Sending You The Sacred Face by Heather Christian and performed by Joshua William Gelb played by the idea of multiple visual representations recorded in a closet at home.
Can I Live? by Fehinti Balogun, recorded and then made available in digital format, is noted as part theatre, part stand-up, part live gig. Lines are blurred.
To Be A Machine (version 1.0) by Mark O’Connell and Dead Centre, was a livestream that played with audience perceptions by utilising videos of them to become part of the show.
I’ve seen something similar with multiple video screens and interaction, but this sounds more created and manipulated by the performer to make a ‘live audience’ from a not-live set of captures.
It’s a form of practice I’d like to see utilised more, whether in a real-life theatre show or in some kind of hybrid experience. ‘Send us your reactions’, and we will curate your own reflections’.
Transmedia Theatre Plays offers a window into the creativity that exists within theatre as an art form.
Many venues and companies have been quick to return to ‘normal’ after exploring different working practices and reaching very different audiences.
Online streaming services such as Netflix have explored interactivity (as in the Black Mirror episode “Bandersnatch’) but these are far from the norm.
One very recent development is around artificial intelligence, and perhaps there is a future place for this, casting your own performer, creating your own text, curating your own personal performance.
But that is another subject for another day.
I’m recommending you buy this one, read the plays, seek out any recordings you can find from the companies and creatives involved, and open your mind to the power of transmedia theatre as it lives and breathes around us.
Transmedia Theatre Plays is now available from Methuen Drama.