In the year 2020, Broadway went dark.
Theatres across the world closed to provide
for social distancing.
And we theatre kids, so reliant on validation
and applause, could only congregate on group
chats and livestreams.
It’s been a strange time, an unprecedented
time, but as other industries adapt to the,
cliché alert, New Normal, what can theatre
groups learn and how can they be better prepared
to provide socially distant theatre experiences?
I’m Derek, I’ve been drawn poorly, and
we’re about to talk about it.
Welcome to Derek Sings Poorly, the channel
for theatre kids of any age and the people
who tolerate them, I am the titular Derek
reminding you now to please like and subscribe,
in case your computer blows up before you
get a chance to later.
2020 has become the year of the video conference,
and theatre was not exempt.
From the cast of Hamilton surprising a young
fan on John Krasinski’s YouTube channel, to
countless staged table readings, to oh so
many versions of One Day More, seriously guys,
No Days More, pick a new act closer ensemble
piece, I recommend Tomorrow Is from Spongebob
and that is a hill I’m willing to die on,
but I digress.
I’ve been holding weekly Facebook streams
with my old theatre group as well, I even
did Shakespeare on Zoom, and that’s a T-shirt.
But is it possible to scale these experiments
up into a professional product that could
temporarily fill the gaps when in-house performances
are on hold?
Ideally, you’d be able to at least get your
cast together into one bubble and broadcast
live from a single location but for many that
won’t be an option and you’ll have to
go remote.
Here are THREE things to think about when
it comes to doing theatre on Zoom or any other
streaming service.
1) Watch Out for Latency.
You’re going to get latency.
Technology will always find a way to fail
you.
If you don’t know what latency is………that
was it.
It’s the awkward pause you see before a
field reporter speaks on the evening news
because they don’t hear the studio host’s
question at the same time you do.
Or why when you’re live-tweeting a show
or event, someone else on the timeline seems
to know what happened before you do, transferring
media data is not instantaneous.
And that’s not taking into account the danger
of outages or internet speed lag.
Why is this an issue for theatre?
Because acting is reacting, and your latency
is your reaction time.
One of the best ways to reduce this is use
a cable connection instead of wireless and
upgrade your speed as much as possible.
For more tips, I’ll leave a resource in
the description down below.
But plan for latency.
2) Consistency is Key.
If you have been on any video conference for
a second of your life, you will know that
audio and video quality can vary wildly from
person to person.
The easiest way to come across more professional
on the old Zoombox is to make sure everyone
has a quality webcam and microphone, and some
basic lighting.
I think it’s fairly obvious to say, but
if you’re going to charge a virtual admission
price, onboard laptop quality is not going
to cut it.
Luckily, a solid HD webcam setup does not
going necessarily have to set you back that
much, once again, see the resources below.
But make sure all participants have similar video and audio quality.
And tip the third: It's a visual medium.
A major hurdle in this presentation is that
what used to be on a grand decorated stage
is now being seen presented in first-person
perspective in front of bookshelves and laundry.
It may seem silly now, but if we do have to
elevate Zoom to true theatre, it’s going
to require costuming and set design, whether
that entails physically altering everyone’s
space to look cohesive or strategically using
green screen.
And with broadcasting software, it is possible
to use other video and graphic elements to
enhance the viewing experience and represent
action that talking heads simply can’t,
because this it not their beautiful house
and this is not their beautiful wife.
Now this is far from perfect.
Musical numbers in particular will be incredibly
hard to pull off with latency issues, those
could be instead prerecorded and transitioned
into from the live feed, like a reverse Little
Mermaid Singalong, how bad was that, anyway,
I tried to block it from my memory but it
keeps coming back.
Stamos.
Audience expectations would have to change,
but done right this could provide an intimate
alternative during times that we can’t bring
everyone under one roof.
Theatre is a living thing, it’s always moving,
it’s always growing, always changing.
And right now some of the most driven and
creative people in the world are locked in
their homes, with nothing to do but think.
So take comfort in the possibility that once
those doors open, great art is going to come
flowing out, and if we have to watch that
art on a screen, at least we’re getting
a lot of practice at it.
Thanks for watching.
Let me know in the comments section the weirdest
thing you’ve used video conferencing for
lately, and take a moment to share this with
the theatre kids in your life because next
time we’re going to look at how actors can
adapt to the on-line medium.
Peace and all good.
