The inspiration for me to write an essay about this topic comes from an article in The Guardian, “Back in the 1980s as new technologies began to make their mark in theatre we still marvelled at West End shows in which sound, lights and even the set was computer-generated to some degree. Computers and other technologies have transformed our everyday lives and they have become a crucial part of the way theatre is made, and our theatre-going lives too.” (Gardner, 2008) It seems like an article defending for those traditional lighting and sound control equipment; nonetheless, it did bring up the subject that how we rely on technology in theatre nowadays. Indeed, the using of video appeared in theatre since a few decades ago, and it has become …show more content…
“The Romans were the technology buffs who liked to show off their engineering skills,” according to David Wiles, professor of theatre at Royal Holloway. “They were interested in things like collapsing mountains, and using hydraulics to flood the stage.” “The Greeks would fly gods in on a crane, but in general they were more restrained,” adds Professor Wiles, who is co-editing the Cambridge Companion to Theatre History. “They were more theoreticians, interested in the science of acoustics in the auditorium.” (Shaw, 2012) Plus, there is a most notable and influential theorist/practitioner of the past century who infused video and projection into theatre in a unique way- Bertolt Brecht. Regarding Piscator’s innovative integration of multimedia in theatre, Brecht stated that his collaborator was “without doubt one of the most important theatre men of all times”. Inspired by Erwin Piscator’s multimedia innovation of victimisation film projections, newsreels, sound, and mechanical technologies within the theatre area, Brecht experimented with multimedia in the theatre by including photographic slide projections, film, and slides presenting figures and statistical information all at once. These strategies contributed to the alienation experience of Epic Theatre. Brecht’s notations on his play, Die Mutter, exemplify his use of multimedia within the theatre space,” Die Mutter is such a learning play and embodies certain principles and methods of presentation of the non-Aristotelian, or epic style, as I have sometimes called it; the use of the film projection to help bring the social complex of the events taking place to the forefront; the use of music and of the chorus to supplement and vivify the action on the stage; the setting forth of actions so as to call for a critical approach, so that they would not be taken for granted by the spectator and would arouse him to
Through out George Orwells 1984, the use of telescreens is very efficient and effective for the Party. On the other hand it plays a very hard role on our main character, Winston. Through out the novel, he lives in fear of the telescreen and is ultimately taken by the mighty power that is the Party, all in help by the telescreen. The watchful eye of the telescreen is not totally fiction though, in many places it all ready exists.Winston is a worker who's job is to change history to make sure that its "correct" by the Parties standards. He meets a lovely girl Julia and falls in love. They together try to find life and happiness together, and also they want to find the resistance, or the group of people that they figured existed that will help see the end of the Party and Big Broth...
Have you ever wondered what life would be like if the world of technology did not exist today? Would we be in control of our own lives more than we are now? Would the knowledge we have gained over the years, though the access of technology/internet be any less rewarding and to what extent are we willing to give up our privacy to gain the knowledge of the world we know today? George Orwell, created a fiction world in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four which is completely controlled by the government. The main character, Winston Smith lives in Oceania which is controlled by a totalitarian government known as “Big Brother.” Big Brother controlled the people of Oceana by using them against each other, brainwashing them and used the thought police to
In colonial and revolutionary literature, people were persuasive. To persuade someone is to cause someone to something through reasoning or argument. That's how people got what they wanted. Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson were all persuasive writers. They wrote with rhetorical questions, repetition, exaggeration, and emotional appeal.
Epic theatre developed in the 1920’s in Germany. German theatre director Erwin Piscator first introduced epic theatre in 1924 after World War I. After two years, Brecht perfected epic theatre. This theatre style was influenced by the horror and suffering of the middle class and lower clas...
Brecht, Bertolt. Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic. Hill & Wang New York,
Without light, the theatre cannot exist, that much is certain. As actors, as audience members, as technical visionaries, we are only as powerful as the light we are given. The extent to which we depend upon light in performance has changed dramatically throughout history, however, as light technology developed and expanded. In the history of performance, the artistic community is constantly victim to the limits of lighting technology, and exponentially altered by breakthroughs. From the utilization of candles and natural light to isolated light and electricity, the histories of illumination and theatre are virtually inseparable, and continue to push the boundaries of live performance.
As time and people are continually changing, so is knowledge and information; and in the film industry there are inevitable technological advances necessary to keep the attraction of the public. It is through graphic effects, sounds and visual recordings that all individuals see how we have evolved to present day digital technology; and it is because of the efforts and ideas of the first and latest great innovators of the twentieth century that we have advanced in film and computers.
The changes in technology gave lighting to the theatres. The change in theatre brought around a new group of audiences. Its change from Neoclassicism to Romanticism paved the way for plays such as Hernani. It’s understandable that nineteenth century theatre has changed dramatically.
A mere mention of the term theatre acts as a relief to many people. It is in this place that a m...
Willett, John, trans. and ed. Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic. New York: Hill and Wang, 1986.
The ideas of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1965) changed the theatre in many ways. Brecht along with Erwin Piscator developed the style of Epic theatre style contrasting to previous accepted styles. Presentational in form, Epic theatre is a vehicle for social comment through techniques such as: alienation, historification, eclectic influences (highly Asian), constructivism in scenery, disjointed and illogical scene placement, ordinary clothing and lighting, the use of music to detach the audience from emotion, placards and signs and projected images. Didactic in nature Brecht’s works aim to challenge the audience to assess socially accepted norms and educate them to injustices often overlooked by the public. The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Brecht, 1944) written during the time of Nazi Germany occupation has a clearly political and social focus.
Nevertheless, the question at hand is whether theatre will have a role in the society of the future, where cinema, digital television, and computers will continue to expand and grow. The answer to this question is yes. Heading into the 21st century, theatre will only be a fraction in a solid media industry. However, despite all the excitement technology brings with it, they will never replace theatre because it has something that can not be recreated or offered anywhere else. The cinema and its larger than life world appeals as an affordable alternative. Digital television provides digital interaction between the viewer and the producer. Theatre on the other hand, and its contents may take on a larger dimension, but we receive it directly in flesh and blood – one to one. The magical atmosphere between an actor and spectator who are constantly aware of each other and the theatre’s level of engagement is fundamentally more human and far more intimate.
Theatre as we know it now was born more than two thousand years ago and has gone through many streams until it reached the current modernity. Among these streams is the avant-garde theatre. This theatre achieved a break in the traditional theatre and became the forefront of a new experimental theatre. Therefore it is necessary to ask how this theatre started, what impact it had on society and if this type of theatre is still common in our modern era.
Theatre is a more language driven medium, while movies and television are driven by what you see. Theatre relies solely on excellent script, and acting. Theatre has a live element, a more heightened sense of realism. Some argue that we are losing the very essence of theatre, its live-ness, because of recorded media seeping into plays and performances (Trueman). With technology things can more easily go wrong. Lyn Gardner says that if the show relies too heavily on technology, it can cause performances to be canceled completely due to technical glitches that instead of adding to performances, the technology has become the show. The spectacle has began to make actors obsolete, leaving the audience to feel alienated and passive to the performance rather than part of it as they should feel