Naima Khan talks to Tom Shaw about the "digital revolution of theatre" and creating new, global audiences for British shows and shows from The Gulf.
Isn't the whole point of theatre to see it live? Essentially it has a lot of the same ingredients as good film and TV – writers, producers, directors, and actors – but surely it's the live element that differentiates it from other mediums? It's a thought that no doubt crossed the minds of Robert Delamere and Tom Shaw when they first spoke about the idea of Digital Theatre, a company that films plays and allows would-be theatre-goers to download them.
After launching in October 2009, Delamere and Shaw now find themselves at the heart of what's broadly described as the “digital revolution of theatre”. It's a phrase pulled from numerous press releases, and opinion pieces about everything from “innovative theatre” (whatever that is) to theatre criticism and the way audiences receive theatre.
It's the latter that Digital Theatre concern themselves with in their new project, Gulf Stage. Using multiple camera angles they capture theatre shows and make them available for download. It's more than one step ahead of the popular live screenings of sold-out theatre shows like Frankenstein at National Theatre and Complicite's A Disappearing Number. With Gulf Stage, Digital Theatre – in partnership with the British Council – are bringing shows from Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Saudi and the UAE to an international audience.
Their other partners, on separate projects, include English Touring Theatre, Royal Court, The Young Vic, and Almeida Theatre among others, so the theatre world clearly sees the potential in what they're doing. Outside theatre, the British Council also appreciate the value in the international audiences that can be accessed through the work of Digital Theatre. I spoke briefly with Tom Shaw about Gulf Stage and its part in spanning international and artistic relations. He explained that, “Gulf Stage provides a platform to show theatre from around the world and present theatre as what it is – an international art. It's a chance to showcase theatre that British audiences have not seen before and Digital Theatre has become a destination site, not only for British but for global shows.”
“They're all really diverse and really individual,” Shaw continues, describing what he saw while filming shows in a competition at the Arab Capital of Culture. Six countries sent over a national representation of their work and Digital Theatre filmed the six plays over six days. “Each country brings its own culture and messages into its work. The strongest plays were the Kuwaiti play (The Nursery) and the play from Qatar (Me...You...The Human). It's a unique look into theatre from the region.”
Gulf Stage fits perfectly with other elements of the digital revolution, like Twitter, which helps demonstrate that in essence, as Tom puts it, Gulf Stage is a social project: “It links the two regions and provokes a number of interesting conversations about what it means to work in this way. What does it mean for cultures to be able to have this platform and express their ideas?”
In our short conversation he answers his own question and those above. The digital recording of theatre takes nothing from the live performances. It adds to it and allows more access points for those unfamiliar to the form. “It archives an experience, a heritage and a culture. Looking ahead x amount of years down the line, it will give an idea into how things are at this point.” And that's the beauty of Digital Theatre – it doesn't replace the live performance; it adds to it, opens it out, and builds it an archive for our future.
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