Prompt 8

Time and pace are directly related to the reality effect because it is something that is structured and obeyed regularly in our everyday lives. When a simulation follows the pattern of the real, it becomes more real to us as a participatory audience. A great example of this would be The Matrix. In The Matrix, Agent Smith explains that there was a previous version of The Matrix where the world was created as a utopia. The rendering was green fields and blue skies. There was no human suffering, war, poverty, etc.  However in this version of The Matrix, the enslaved human race began to rebel. Even on a subconscious level the human race was unable to believe that what was happening before them was real. As a result of this The Matrix underwent a “system update” and was changed to reflect human conditions as we know them today. The simulation introduced certain human influences such as hard labor, disease, inequality; the parts of our suffering that make humanism real. This idea relates well to ideas regarding time and pace as it relates to the reality effect. The closer action on stage adheres to real time, the more real it becomes for the audience. If a character decides he must leave to go and take a shower, walks off stage left, and enters again in 60 seconds, no one in the audience is going to believe that man left to go take a shower. However, if a character decides to take a shower, walks off stage left, and enters in the next 10 minutes with wet hair and a change of clothes, this action becomes infinitely more believable to the audience. There is a much more powerful effect when we see a performance happening in real time. When we are fully engaged in a show and are seeing everything happen before our eyes, we know that we are not missing out on anything occurring on stage. Our experience becomes a shared experience with the character we are following. We get to see everything the exact way that character sees it, without leaving any of the action behind. In terms of pace, it is easy for an audience to question the authenticity of a performance when we see that natural speech patterns and movements are not implemented in a performance. When a question is asked most times we expect a character to stop and think of a response. If the character answers right away, we know that the even happening before us is merely an illusion. While this can sometimes be effective, it is only truly effective when the world of the play is not one that is similar to the real world. There is a film that was made recently called Boyhood. Boyhood is the story of a boy as he ages from 5 to 18 years old. What is so interesting about the production of this film is that it was filmed over the course of 12 years in order to captures the boy’s growth into adulthood. The entire cast of characters signed on to be filmed in what is essentially real time so that they could see this one boy become a man in real time. What I find most interesting about this experience is that while this tactic was intending to be used to capture the boy’s growth, I strongly believe that it served another purpose as well. I am certain that in filming the picture for 12 years, the relationships between each of the characters became more real as well. If two cast members, a father and a son are expected to have a relationship, that relationship is much more synthetic when the characters are only filmed for a few months. However, when the two cast members are engaged in a working relationship for an extended period of time, it is undoubted that their relationship becomes much more real for them as actors, and therefore, it becomes real for the audience as well. 

Prompt 7

If I were to take a theatrical performance, and convert to a show worthy of environmental theatre, I would choose Eurydice as this show. I would choose this because it is the text with which I am most familiar at this point and also because there are so many strong design choices, especially in terms of set, that would lend itself to something site-specific. In terms of the dialogue, I believe that not much would need to change. Although environmental theatre does not rely heavily on text, in this scenario I would actually add various dialogues for the different parts of the show. In Eurydice, there are many events that occur at about the same time. However due to the nature of a theatrical production, these events are seen in sequence. In adapting the show, I would allow for these events to occur at the same time. For example, Orpheus would be in a room upstairs writing or playing music, writing letters, succumbing to his depression, etc. Meanwhile in the basement, Eurydice’s father would be teaching Eurydice the various lessons that are mentioned in the script. You would get to see a lot more of Orpheus’s decline and much more of Eurydice and the Father’s relationship becoming stronger. In terms of set, I would stage the performance in a house. The audience would start in on the first floor and would see the first scene where Orpheus and Eurydice get engaged. After this, the audience would be invited into the next room where the wedding would be taking place. There would be party guests being greeted by Eurydice while Orpheus is nowhere to be found. Also the audience at this point would be invited into the basement and the second floor. In the basement would be the underworld with several pipes dripping water, a river running through a section, and several stones, three of which would be endowed with speaking parts. Here would also be the “business section of the Underworld where the dad would go to work. On the second floor is Orpheus’ room where he writes music and letters. There would be a piano there. Also on the second floor is the Lord of the Underworld’s high-rise apartment. Between Orpheus’ room and the Underworld would be a pneumatic tube with which letters would be passed between the underworld and the world above. When the third act occurs, all the patrons of the show would unite in the basement and watch the great ascension. They would see the failure and the conclusion of the play down in the Underworld. I believe that this show would have a very powerful affect on the audience, especially with interactions between the stones, the wedding scene, the incessant musical interludes from Orpheus’ room, and with the terrifying intrusions of the Lord of the Underworld.

I do believe with Kantor’s view on theatre. I believe that an audience who goes to a stage production knows exactly what they are going to get. This is much like going to a blockbuster hit at the movie theater. When the process becomes interactive with the audience a performance then does not break the fourth wall but transcends it, evolving from a two dimensional performance to a three dimensional performance. In the same way, when you go on a “ride” at Universal Studios that brings the action directly to you, a film then transcends the same type of boundary.

Blog Prompt 6

In my personal opinion, there is no way that the use of new technology will dilute theatre into an entirely obsolete form of performance. There is a clear desire for our culture move towards these newer mediums, but theatre is held together but something that makes it entirely unique. New technology can never take presence away from theatre. There is an important bond between a performer and an audience that only occurs when the two are sharing the same space. There is no other medium in the world that can match a face to face experience. While there is a demand for instant gratification, there is also a strong demand for honesty and believability in our art forms. The idea that we are witnessing something raw and untarnished first hand is very powerful, and it is because of this that people will always be drawn to stage performance. This does not mean, however, that these new mediums should not be introduced and blended with the events happening before our eyes. I believe the best way to use this tactic is in the form of an illusion. Any film based artistic work grew out the spectacle of film being real, and also not real. I imagine that if we reintroduce the novelty of other mediums into film, it could have a very powerful effect. Imagine a girl on stage stands in front of a mirror, and the girl in the mirror is identical to the former. Then imagine the girl who is present in the space begins to play with her hair, but the mirrored image does not reproduce her actions. She instead points, and laughs. This is an idea that can only be brought to life by a new medium, and using ideas like this we can improve theatre in a way that makes it more impactful for the audience. The use of new mediums in theatre can enhance a performance by providing more information that puts the audience in the mind of the character. The second part of this prompt brings to mind those "save a starving child" add you often see during commercials. I personally have no experience with starving children, or with a world where it seems impossible to receive the care and nourishment necessary for survival. However, I still am filled with enormous guilt and sympathy when that commercial comes on. Rather, this is how I feel at first. After seeing the same commercial over and over again, the impact becomes less and less. I think if I were to see the poor starving child in person, that experience once could do more to move me than one hundred ads of the same scenario.