Last year Zoom went from 10 million users daily to 200 million in a matter of weeks. Memes, fitness crazes and family get togethers erupted across the globe. Screen_Play seeks a way to make theatre for new audiences with Zoom....
24.3.21 Screen_Play: The Zoom Diaries
Contrasting a classic and contemporary piece this week; The Killing of Sister George (Frank Marcus) with The Pillowman (Martin McDonagh). Both use stage directions and we wanted to see if digital reading interfered with the audience's belief in the action between characters in the same room.
We learnt that which we did not look for: the audience can be 'stage-managed' using Zoom to have a certain experience of the action. And surprisingly, the fourth wall is maintained by speaking directly into it....
Next week, we tackle Edward Albee's 1962 classic Who's Afraid...? alongside the piercing talent of Polly Stenham with her award-winning debut play That Face.
A bientôt!
the Director...
17.3.21 Screen_Play: The Zoom Diaries
Paddy's day 2021 is unlike any I've known - no triumphant singing with Scottish 6 Nations supporters in Rome in the post-Covid age (not yet anyway).
Screen_Play workshop 1 proved an excellent alternative. A brilliantly vibrant company of actors experimented with Martin Crimp's Attempts on her Life on Zoom.
We found the following things:
- You can manipulate Zoom to affect the audience experience
- The reactive expressions of actors can be a temptation or distraction
- Crimp's writing is made for Zoom!
- Humans are beautiful in close up....mwah!
Signing off,
the Director....