The face of theatre has changed over the past year and a half, as Covid-19-related regulations continue to limit the industry. Many theatre practitioners and festivals have since started experimenting with a digital and online space in order to produce and showcase their work. The digital stage has allowed practitioners to continue working throughout the pandemic, but has still left some questioning what theatre truly is.
Theatre-makers believe that theatre exists in the live encounters between audience and actor. It is within this encounter that both parties share a moment that can never be replicated.
Mike van Graan, a well-known theatre practitioner and academic, wrote in an article for Herri that, “theatre-makers are educated to believe that no theatre performance is the same, as it is the audience-performer relationship at the particular show that makes theatre unique”.
The theatrical experience has changed vastly over the past year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The stage lights are turned off and the auditoriums remain empty due to social gathering restrictions implemented by the South African government. The live experience, whether it be at a festival or a production, has mostly been moved to a digital space, according to various theatre practitioners. PHOTO: Lara van Zyl
The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged this notion of theatre, as the theatre industry had to find a new way to exist and stay alive during this pandemic.
And so, a digital stage was born.
An existential question
The theatre industry has been threatened by many different constituents over the years, but Covid-19 posed a new type of threat – one where the doors were forcibly closed, and the audiences turned away.
In the beginning of lockdown in 2020, gatherings were prohibited in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Van Graan explained that theatre audiences fell within the “gatherings” definition, causing all theatre productions and festivals to shut down immediately.
The Toyota SU Woordfees was able to finish the 2020 festival on 15 March, with hours to spare, before the South African government implemented Covid-19 restrictions on all social gatherings, including theatre. This was according to Saartjie Botha, Woordfees director. PHOTO: Lara van Zyl
However, this threat allowed theatre-practitioners and festivals to experiment with a digital stage and the online realm. Van Graan explained that this was because “they needed to earn an income”, but also because there was a “desire to explore the online space and learn skills for this platform”.
“Digital theatre offers us an alternative way of making theatre, or an alternative medium to play with and express ourselves with,” said Alberto Smit, a drama and theatre studies honours student at Stellenbosch University (SU).
To stream or not to stream
Theatre is naturally the most difficult item to film for a festival programme
The Toyota SU Woordfees will be attempting its first digital festival, which will take the form of a pop-up channel on DStv. The festival will run during the first week of October and will present 120 programme items, according to Saartjie Botha, the director of Woordfees.
Only six of these items, however, will be theatre productions. “Theatre is naturally the most difficult item to film for a festival programme. It’s very expensive and we could only film six plays,” said Botha in an online Woordfees media conference on 31 August.
Most other festivals around the country, like Vrystaat Kunstefees (VSK) and the National Arts Festival have used online streaming methods to enable the festival to run. However, according to Botha, these streaming services “do not work”, because people start losing interest.
“People would rather watch free YouTube videos than watch a [virtual theatre show] that they have to pay for. People are already paying for Netflix, Showmax and all the other streaming services,” said Smit.
The Drostdy Theatre has been providing rehearsal space and recording space for theatrical and music productions, as well as filming their own entertainment series in 2020, according to Ané van den Berg, the theatre manager at Drostdy. PHOTO: Supplied/Ané van den Berg.
The VSK, which usually takes place in Bloemfontein, attempted its first virtual festival last year, according to Michael Garbett, the programme manager of VSK. “We did a ‘test program’ in June last year to identify what works and what doesn’t,” said Garbett. “The public engagement and sales were well received.”
VSK, however, hopes to be able to have a live festival again by the end of this year, explained Garbett.
The Drostdy Theatre, based in Stellenbosch, has also experimented with this new digital space. It launched a Drostdy Entertainment series that was filmed during the early stages of lockdown last year, according to Ané van den Berg, the theatre manager at Drostdy. Some of these productions featured at the VSK in 2020, according to Van den Berg.
Shall I compare thee to a WhatsApp meme?
Another experimental digital space used during the course of the pandemic is social media theatre.
In 2020, the National Arts Festival (NAF) co-produced a play for its digital festival with Faye Kabali-Kagwa, a theatre practitioner, called The Shopping Dead. The production took place over a WhatsApp group chat, according to Kabali-Kagwa.
“I thought we needed to use something that is more accessible both for the audience and the performance and I thought that WhatsApp might be a great platform to try,” Kabali-Kagwa said.
The cast of The Shopping Dead rehearsing over Zoom. The cast consisted of Faye Kabali-Kagwa (producer), Ncumisa Ndimeni (writer), Lesego Chauke (director), Tshegofatso Mabutla (coordinator and marketing), along with performers Tankiso Mamabolo, Chris Djuma, Kiroshan Naidoo and Kathleen Stephens. PHOTO: Supplied/Instagram @katiiti_k.
The play produced three shows at the festival, with 240-odd audience members per production, stated Kabali-Kagwa. The play incorporated not only the use of text, but audio and visual elements such as videos, memes, voice notes and gifs.
“I enjoyed the process. It was an idea I had had and [it] felt like a good time to experiment. [NAF] co-produced the play so everyone was able to get paid for doing the project. I definitely want to continue and explore what we can do with WhatsApp,” said Kabali-Kagwa.
What is theatre, truly?
Filming and streaming theatre productions has caused many theatre practitioners to question what theatre truly is. This new digital space has drawn a fine line between producing a film versus filming theatre, according to Van Graan.
“I believe that theatre shouldn’t be ‘masked’ like film. Yes, you can use film techniques to articulate the experience across the screen, but you must acknowledge that it’s a theatre piece first,” said Garbett.
Première Theatre Festival, hosted by the SU drama department, also took place online in August 2021. All rehearsals and the performances were done virtually, according to Smit.
The Première Theatre Festival could not take place in 2020 due to Covid-19. The last live Première festival was held in 2019 at the Adam Small Theatre Complex. PHOTO: Lara van Zyl
“My experience with Première this year, as an artist or creator of a piece … you feel removed from the thing you were making,” said Smit. “I don’t think virtual theatre would ever be able to replace live theatre.”
The production itself was filmed prior to the festival, leaving some of the creators and actors feeling a lack of energy and collaboration.
“I miss the different dimensions that [theatre] offers,” said Nisa Smit, a drama and theatre studies honours student at SU. “It’s like deciding whether to shop online, or breathe in the leathery fumes of a thrift store! Experience. I think theatre is to the story what Persian rugs are to tiled floors – warmer, textured and mostly hand-woven.”
Practitioners do however believe that virtual theatre is not trying to replace live theatre, but rather create a new skill to the artists’ toolkit.
“It is relatively early days yet, but it is almost inevitable that Covid-19 and the exploration of the digital space and technology will impact on the aesthetics and form of theatre, as well as the distribution of theatre in future,” said Van Graan.