What Does "A New Form of Theatre" Mean?

BY JO BONNEY

MAY 26, 2020

Ito Aghayere, Sahr Ngaujah + Kevin Mambo in MLIMA'S TALE at The Public Theater, directed by Jo Bonney PHOTO Joan Marcus

We’re enjoying a tsunami of digital theatre content—but what is this version of theatre if the combination of live performance and live audience in real time is no longer present? In a world of digital technology and social media, theatre is an oppositional force, but is this still valid when it’s now beholden to the same technology?

I’ve been reading dozens of old interviews, theatre program sites, and essays to see how the experience of theatre is described. The same words and phrases are consistently used to extoll the “specialness” of the theatre-going experience: “immediacy,” “collective shared experience,” “live-ness,” “ephemeralness,” “each show a unique performance.”

I watched WHAT DO WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT? by Richard Nelson, a continuation of THE APPLE FAMILY SAGA and, to date, one of the best examples of digital theatre. I know and like these characters from the past when I sat in the theatre watching them. Now I’m sitting in my living room and witnessing a family Zoom get-together as they engage in a ritual we’re all becoming familiar with in the time of COVID-19. One of the characters decides to leave the screen to get a glass of wine. I decide that’s not a bad idea; I’ll join her. To do that, I hit the pause button and the family freezes. I rejoin them a few minutes later (with my glass of wine) and, without missing a beat, we continue. So, okay, this is interesting—I’m kind of interacting in a virtual way with their activity. Ten minutes later, my phone pings with a text message that has some immediacy to it, so I hit pause again to answer. This time though, as I return to the show, I realize that I’m watching it the same way I view a TV show or film. Because the play was recorded and broadcast, the cast and I are not experiencing this together, my presence and energy are not relevant. The performances (however wonderful) are locked. That uniquely live event that each audience experiences and contributes to at each show is lost.

I've watched passively in the dark and also been physically engaged in a performance in an interactive encounter. In all circumstances, it has been a live, shared, ephemeral experience.

The question hovers...was it a “theatre” experience? What are these offerings? Is this “a new form of theatre”? What does that mean? I’ve watched theatre in traditional theatre spaces, lofts, abandoned churches, and outdoor venues. I’ve been asked to wander from room to room to view scenes in random order, and I’ve sat across a table from a single performer and experienced the show as the single audience member. I’ve watched passively in the dark and also been physically engaged in a performance in an interactive encounter. In all circumstances, it has been a live, shared, ephemeral experience. It was not me and a screen.

So is this just a question of terminology, an unwarranted concern with nomenclature? Or is this the beginning of an existential identity crisis for theatre? I know that to survive this next year, things must and will change, but the word “theatre” has always meant something specific. It’s hard for me to lose that.

Jo Bonney is a director.