Theatre During The Pandemic
In all normal years, the theatres of New York would be busy. There would always be something playing. During the age of the pandemic, this status quo changed, with hundreds of thousands of theatre practitioners having to cancel projects, be out of a job, and be forced to adapt to their new circumstances. Some people fared well in this change while others innovated. Here are a couple of ways people, theatre artists and others, adapted live performances in the age of the pandemic.
Zoom Theatre
As Zoom became the standard form of communication for both businesses and schools, theatre artists looked for ways to use it as a medium for art. The box of a webcam became akin to the space of a stage, and artists thought of ways to set up blocking for the screen as they would the stage floor. One thing this method of theatre brought was the ability to see faces up close. Many actors were more conscious of their facial expressions than ever. In addition, actors became their own lighting experts, costume experts, and sound designers. They learned to set up their space in ways that enhanced their performance. Theatre artists learned to use the skills of cinema to create interesting scenes and framing. One example of something theatre artists hadn’t thought of pre-pandemic is the rule of thirds, a photography and film theory saying that the eye line should be aligned to the top third of the screen.
While it was a medium many artists employed, in the end, many artists still felt creatively limited by Zoom Theatre, both by its tech issues and by the limited nature of the webcam; but also by a perceived lack of audience interaction. Many consider their ability to get an audience response and play off the audience an essential feature of theatre, and Zoom does not allow you to get that response. It was not a substitute for the thrill of an in-person audience or the immersiveness of a real space. The most creatively fulfilling Zoom works were those that did not pretend that they were not Zoom works, many told stories from the perspective of characters who were calling families, talking to others over long distances. There is a large selection of works that only had their stories told because of the medium and the circumstances of the lockdown.
Live Streaming
Audiences did not regard Zoom theatre highly, but this did not mean people did not want live performances. In a world where live theatre and live music are too dangerous to do in person, the popularity of live-streaming on platforms like Twitch and YouTube rose drastically. The platform Twitch doubling or even tripling its average daily viewers from 2019 to 2020 and 2021. Not just in live-streaming events but in content creators who specialize in running shows specifically for live streams (streamers) such as musicians, gamers, artists, comedians, or just those who talk to their audience. This kind of entertainment fulfilled the need for a live audience to performer interaction. In the realm of gaming live-streamers, many found themselves as actors with the rising popularity of roleplay as a form of entertainment, Streamers do improv storytelling using video games like Grand Theft Auto, Minecraft, or even Virtual Reality as a medium. The games themselves become substitutes for the stage, and the player avatars a puppet for the actor to control. The use of virtual space creates a whole new way of acting, interacting with the stage, and presentation of a story.
Into the Post-Pandemic Age of Theatre
As things open back up again, it is inevitable that the theatres will fill again. Of course, some theatres will never reopen, but in their place, many artists now have experience with other mediums. As much as the pandemic has hurt the theatre industry, hopefully, the absence of live performance has allowed artists to expand their worldview of what theatre can be; that these virtual techniques would be carried on even when all the theatres have reopened.