Technical Debaucles
Why oh why did no one else see these problems coming? Plays incorporating multi media are always ambitious. The theatre still needs to manage basic things like scheduling, budgeting and the use of outside directors and designers before it should be taking on video and heavy sound. It boggles my mind that no one had predicted or planned for the glitches that were to happen.
Sunday was final dress for Aladdin. The goal was to run in show conditions, which here means half hour call, hour long show, half hour to reset followed by a second show. The show ran just over an hour...but seeing as this was only the second time the director had seen the show start to finish...that this was the first true run time...well...we expected some trimming needed to be done. Pity such trimming had to be done THE DAY BEFORE THE FIRST PERFORMANCE!
The actors stood their ground against the glitches in video...when it stopped abruptly and vanished they plowed on...one of the actors backstage with script in hand in case the audio (which carries voice over tracks...the most important of which are the genie...) cut out too. They kept going. The technology did not.
I still blame much of the first run's issues on operator error. I have no doubt the technology is smarter than the stage manager. This may sound catty, but given the consistently erroneous rehearsal reports, I wouldn't be surprised if most things are smarter than the stage manager. Last season we had a smart one. But because she was smart, she questioned protocol. And that threatened the production manager. And resulted in her not returning this season. One person alone should not be responsible for running sound, lights and video. Unfortunately this is a theatre that does not believe in stage crew or wardrobe, in order to keep numbers down to a meager 3-4 people for touring purposes.
So choose shows that fit a tour! Simple stage magic. Not this multi media bullshit!
I am not opposed to video and projections in live performance. Far from it. Often, when paired with enough knowledgeable hands to run it and enough tech time to thoroughly work out the glitches, multi-media adds a great layer to the theatrical experience. A production of Sundays in the Park with George made Seurat's paintings come to life. The National Theatre in London incorporated video on top of their already impressive double drum revolve stage to create the amazing environments for their production of His Dark Materials. But these theatres have the time and can throw money at problems to fix them...whether that means hiring more knowledgeable help or buying new equipment.
The later is ultimately what fixed the glitches from the first run that Sunday evening. The Mac the theatre owned did not have enough processing power to run the cueing program...so it stuttered, bucked and shut down. The theatre's machine was swapped out for the production manager's personal one. One he had just upgraded.
So now today, $1500 later (effectively wiping any slush money we had in the production budget) we have a new computer to run the show.
The computer will travel as a carry-on with the stage manager. But what of the projector. Oh, trust me. It is insured within an inch of its life. But what happens when this element of the production does not arrive on island with the rest of the cargo? Aladdin may have a chance of surviving, though most of the magic of the show would have vanished like the missing cargo. But Music of Dolphins? A show that roughly 30% of the story is told through video instead of acted out before us? It won't survive.
But no back up plan has been discussed. The staff are like ostriches with their heads in the sand. And those of us who do brooch the subject are hushed and told we need to work out the immediate glitches first and then they'll address the other problems as they arise.
Oh well. At least they don't need to worry about performing naked. Unless of course, the luggage containing the costumes gets lost. But we'll cross that bridge when we reach it...
Sunday was final dress for Aladdin. The goal was to run in show conditions, which here means half hour call, hour long show, half hour to reset followed by a second show. The show ran just over an hour...but seeing as this was only the second time the director had seen the show start to finish...that this was the first true run time...well...we expected some trimming needed to be done. Pity such trimming had to be done THE DAY BEFORE THE FIRST PERFORMANCE!
The actors stood their ground against the glitches in video...when it stopped abruptly and vanished they plowed on...one of the actors backstage with script in hand in case the audio (which carries voice over tracks...the most important of which are the genie...) cut out too. They kept going. The technology did not.
I still blame much of the first run's issues on operator error. I have no doubt the technology is smarter than the stage manager. This may sound catty, but given the consistently erroneous rehearsal reports, I wouldn't be surprised if most things are smarter than the stage manager. Last season we had a smart one. But because she was smart, she questioned protocol. And that threatened the production manager. And resulted in her not returning this season. One person alone should not be responsible for running sound, lights and video. Unfortunately this is a theatre that does not believe in stage crew or wardrobe, in order to keep numbers down to a meager 3-4 people for touring purposes.
So choose shows that fit a tour! Simple stage magic. Not this multi media bullshit!
I am not opposed to video and projections in live performance. Far from it. Often, when paired with enough knowledgeable hands to run it and enough tech time to thoroughly work out the glitches, multi-media adds a great layer to the theatrical experience. A production of Sundays in the Park with George made Seurat's paintings come to life. The National Theatre in London incorporated video on top of their already impressive double drum revolve stage to create the amazing environments for their production of His Dark Materials. But these theatres have the time and can throw money at problems to fix them...whether that means hiring more knowledgeable help or buying new equipment.
The later is ultimately what fixed the glitches from the first run that Sunday evening. The Mac the theatre owned did not have enough processing power to run the cueing program...so it stuttered, bucked and shut down. The theatre's machine was swapped out for the production manager's personal one. One he had just upgraded.
So now today, $1500 later (effectively wiping any slush money we had in the production budget) we have a new computer to run the show.
The computer will travel as a carry-on with the stage manager. But what of the projector. Oh, trust me. It is insured within an inch of its life. But what happens when this element of the production does not arrive on island with the rest of the cargo? Aladdin may have a chance of surviving, though most of the magic of the show would have vanished like the missing cargo. But Music of Dolphins? A show that roughly 30% of the story is told through video instead of acted out before us? It won't survive.
But no back up plan has been discussed. The staff are like ostriches with their heads in the sand. And those of us who do brooch the subject are hushed and told we need to work out the immediate glitches first and then they'll address the other problems as they arise.
Oh well. At least they don't need to worry about performing naked. Unless of course, the luggage containing the costumes gets lost. But we'll cross that bridge when we reach it...
posted by Unknown at
3:26 PM
1 Comments:
I agree, there is a time and a place for technology, and that time and place ought to be when the playwright first has their brilly idea splashing out onto paper. and it needs to be consistently followed through with every workshop, every rehearsal, until the technology becomes seamlessly integrated into the story. See: Sunday in the Park With George.
It's a shame that directors are so used to lights and sound that they assume that other technologies (video, pyro, flying, etc etc) can be so easily manipulated and piled into a show. You can't wave your hands and make something happen, but if you have a live body out there--they can improvise if everything goes to hell. If someone misses a quick change, or the lights don't go down. Tada. The computer, as you said, won't do that.
Good luck, sweetie. I hope you're still sendin' out the ol resumes...
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