Digital Theatre

For the past two weeks we have had several lectures and workshops in digital theatre with Douglas O’Connell. His lectures have been really interesting where we have been discussing issues like how we define time and space in theatre the definition of performance. We have also been discussing questions like: What is the difference between cinema and theatre spaces? What does video bring to theatre and how do we find the right balance with the written language? Should video ever be used just as an “add on” in theatre – or should it always be serving the play in the way no other media could?

We were also split in groups of three and four and did an project where we made up a little story which we could tell with projection. We made a modelbox and used computer programs like Photoshop, Aftereffects and Isadora to create the design and then projected onto the modelbox using Isadora to map out the projection.

I have to admit that this project has reached very far out of my comfort zone, and at times I found this all too overwhelming. I have no experience on working with any of these computer programs but Photoshop, but luckily my groupmates had more experience so we made it in the end.

Afterwards it is great to have had the opportunity to do this project, even though I doubt that I will ever do any video design or work with programs like Isadora by myself. But it is good to know what is possible to do digitally in theatre.