When Covid forced a conversation about what is essential in life, theatre was in the lowest tier. Jack Reuler reflects on theatre practitioners' self-believed contentions about their irreplaceable value to society.
The death of theatre has long been predicted. When films — especially talkies — were invented, people thought theatre would perish. When broadcast TV arrived, the funeral was planned. When cable and VCRs hit the market, the death knell was again sounded. The internet, it was hypothesized, would be the final nail in the coffin. VR and AR were the latest plagues to threaten. But time after time, theatremakers have all been certain we’d find a way to morph and even benefit from new technology. And now will this pandemic not seal our fate as archaic? It may just be the great equalizer.
Theatres with lovely large venues, lots of seats, and the wherewithal to attract large numbers of people to pay large amounts of money to view virtuosic work may now be at the bottom of the theatrical food chain. Meanwhile, nimble, itinerant companies that don’t rely on ticket sales for viability may surface as the new sages. Stages, seats, performances, and intimacy-through-proximity — once theatre’s calling card — are the same elements that threaten to render us obsolete... Keep reading on HowlRound
The death of theatre has long been predicted. When films — especially talkies — were invented, people thought theatre would perish. When broadcast TV arrived, the funeral was planned. When cable and VCRs hit the market, the death knell was again sounded. The internet, it was hypothesized, would be the final nail in the coffin. VR and AR were the latest plagues to threaten. But time after time, theatremakers have all been certain we’d find a way to morph and even benefit from new technology. And now will this pandemic not seal our fate as archaic? It may just be the great equalizer.
Theatres with lovely large venues, lots of seats, and the wherewithal to attract large numbers of people to pay large amounts of money to view virtuosic work may now be at the bottom of the theatrical food chain. Meanwhile, nimble, itinerant companies that don’t rely on ticket sales for viability may surface as the new sages. Stages, seats, performances, and intimacy-through-proximity — once theatre’s calling card — are the same elements that threaten to render us obsolete... Keep reading on HowlRound