My Second Paper Presentation

ROLE OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY IN ENHANCING KANNADA THEATRE EXPERIENCE

This is the title of my paper presented in the National Conference held in Bangalore University on 7th April 2011 about Theatre and Social Movement in Karnataka

Here is the ABSTRACT:

Theater is considered as part of religion & entertainment in any human culture from the very ancient times. It includes all other fine art forms like music & dance. So it always gives a wholesome experience to its audience.

As we all know, in the current scenario, modern technology is a part & parcel of every aspect of human life. In a similar way, in theater art, right from the conception of a script to staging a play, technology can be used effectively to give the audience the best theater experience.

Technology can be used in any & every aspect of theater production. For instance, in lighting arrangements, sound effects, costumes, etc.

If we study the history of the evolution of theater, we can observe that in each & every age the use of technology is present. But as the age advances, the ways & means & scope of using the technology also advances.

In this paper I would like to enumerate about some of the latest technological advancement & the possibility & scope of using them in enhancing the theater experience in relation to Kannada theatre, both present & in future

The complete paper as presented:

Ellarigu namaskara
Distinguished gathering, it is my pleasure to present a paper titled, THE ROLE OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY IN ENHANCING KANNADA THEATRE EXPERIENCE

History of Theatre

Theatre had its origin in the earliest part of human history, and the first form of theatre can be found in the development of dance culture. Dances were originally performed in commemoration of major events, celebrations and religious ceremonies. In the beginning, they were very informal affairs with little practice, but dancing as rituals evolved into a very sophisticated form of artistry by the 3000 BCE Era.

As dancing became more sophisticated with time, they were performed at every level, especially before major events such as war, seasonal changes & religious celebrations. As rituals evolved further into sophisticated displays, that took on themes and styles, the first development of drama took place. This type of evolution can be seen in Persians’ and Asians’ early civilizations.

Another major development is story-telling through theatre. As dances took on more sophistication, they took on story-lines, complicated plots and a common theme that is carried in the dance. The emerging concept of stories through dance was very important because it led to the creation of theatre. This type of dance culture evolved slowly into a new type of theatre during the Greek era, and this era saw the rise of theatre, not as a religious experience, but rather as an art form.

The biggest change in the addition of style and theme that led to the development of plays, was the use of spoken words or dialogues along with song and dance.

Formal Greek theatre is renowned for its style, themes and physical constructions. Every element of modern theatre can be traced to Greek theatre. The development of style and a system for organizing plays along scenes and acts was very important in Greek theatre, and is still something that persists in modern theatre. Finally, the Greeks were also known for their actual physical construction of theatre areas. Unlike the previous era where rituals were performed at religious centers and in preparation for battles, the Greeks created amphitheaters within every city where they would hold yearly plays and contests. Amphitheaters were large central stages that are surrounded by raised stairs for seating. They became the popular form of theatre construction for the next thousand years.

Using technology in theatre is not a new concept. Man always had a tendency even during early civilization to use whatever available in those times to quench his thirst of novelty in the art creation. For instance, when early men and women used to assemble for recreation, they used the highest technology of that time, that is fire, as an aid in their storytelling activities. Perhaps they used fire to illuminate and give life to the images of animals they drew on the cave walls.

The Ancient Greeks used various forms of stagecraft in their dramas, most notably the Deus ex Machina or "god from the machine" in which an actor portraying a god would be lowered to the stage by means of a crane in order to resolve a conflict in the plot. In Medieval Mystery plays, gunpowder was used to represent the devil, even to the point of rigging an actor's costume so that fire would shoot out of his bodily orifices
By the 16th Century, Italian set designers had developed the use of flat scenery to depict various backgrounds. Within the next century, Opera became popular in part because the use of technology turned what had been an upper class/intellectual art form into a popular spectacle. There were instances in some plays where when one scene is changed, a house rotated out of the way and a donkey cart with a live donkey rode across the stage.

In the 18th Century, it became possible to have a sky moving across the ceiling of a theatre. Mirror effects were used, for example to project the image of a ghost onstage.

From these stages, we have arrived at the current computer era, wherein, with the widespread use of computers, theatre has adopted a new technology.

Some of the latest advancements:

1. Digital Theatre :

Recently, the concept of "Digital Theatre" has emerged & it is defined as "the coexistence of "live" performers and digital media, in the same unbroken space, with a co-present audience."

Strictly, Digital theatre is a hybrid art form, and it aids to a great extent in reaching communication and visualization in a finer form through its inherited richness.

Digital Theatre is generally seen as having narrative content to differentiate it from Performing Art, which seeks to provoke the user into exploring an artistic statement.

Digital media is not defined through the presence of one type of technology hardware or software configuration, but by its characteristics of being flexible, mutable, easily adapted, and able to be processed in real-time. It is the ability to change not only sound and light, but also images, video, animation, and other content into triggered, manipulated, and reconstituted data which is relayed or transmitted in relation to other impulses which defines the essential nature of the digital format. Digital information has the quality of pure computational potential, which can be seen as parallel to the potential of human imagination.

2. Desktop Theatre

This includes web-based role-playing, games and collaborative storytelling.

3. VR Theatre and Computer Theatre

Both are parts of Digital theatre & involve specific types of computer media, live performers, story/words, and limited levels of interactivity.

4. Cyberformance

This can be included within this definition of Digital theatre, where it includes a proximal audience & can be created and presented entirely online, for a distributed online audience who participate via internet-connected computers anywhere in the world. It can be presented to a proximal audience (such as in a physical theatre or gallery venue) with some or all of the performers appearing via the internet; or it can be a hybrid of the two approaches, with both remote and proximal audiences or performers.

5. Virtual Theatre

These are digital performances or media events, which are created and presented on computers utilizing intelligent agents or synthetic characters, called avatars. Often these are interactive computer programs or online conversations. Without human actors, or group audiences, these are computer multimedia interfaces allowing a user to play at the roles of theatre rather than being in theatre. It can be further defined as a project which aims to provide a multimedia environment in which user can play all of the creative roles associated with producing and performing plays and stories in an improvisational theatre company.

These technologies can be used in innumerable ways to enhance the theatre experience.

Firstly, sound effects.

The computer generated sound effects are very realistic & they can be programmed to sounds like rain fall, birds chirping etc according to the situation. Natural sounds, man made sounds or any type of sounds can easily be recorded to be played during the play which is very helpful in portraying the scenes quite naturally.

Possibly the first use of recorded sound in the theatre was a phonograph playing a baby’s cry in a London theatre in 1890.

Background music & songs are also composed using analogue & digital media very cost-effectively. These days, there are several tools available on the internet like musical softwares, already composed music for the background scores, & these can be used very effectively for the best theatre experience. We can find more advancements taking place in the sound amplification devices like speakers and microphones, providing the artistes, ample scope to express themselves more effectively without much strain on the stage.
Technology is involved even in lighting, projection, stage design etc which are very vital for a theatre performance.

Successful experiments are also conducted in using animations on the stage, which provide greater scope for the directors in creating stage plays.

Complicated scenes, difficult costumes are all possible on the stage through technology.

With all these, we may say that theatrical entertainment does not have to be either purist involving only “live” actors on stage, or be consumed by the dominant televisual mass media, but can gain from the strength of both these aspects.

Technology in the theatre or anywhere else is never just a matter of hardware. It also involves ‘human brains & hands - the human processes that shape its use. In the classical Greek sense, ‘techne’ denotes the application of craft skill for particular purpose. Aristotle makes it sound like an attitude, a mix of know-how and can-do.

The combination of the effective usage of technology & the creative genius of man always go hand in hand in enhancing the theatre experience.

Futuristic scope

We may find all the jobs related to theatre performances like lighting control, sound operation and scenic automation linked into a single department & the design engineers would take charge of the show via the wireless local area network operating within the theatre.

Mics & speakers would be more powerful, smaller in size & more effective in eliminating unwanted sounds by the introduction of smaller and electronically superior RF technology

Many foresee the explosive growth of the Internet as part of the future. There would be server-based sound effects libraries, from which any sound can be extracted via the internet in realtime, during the performance.

These are just a few samples to understand what modern technology can offer to enhance the theatre experience. Effective usage of these would definitely raise our Kannada theatre to international standards.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THIS WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY. NAMASKARA.

This was a great experience as this was the first time my Respected Guide Dr. S.N. Susheela came to attend my presentation, & also The Chairman of our Performing Arts department of Bangalore University was the chief guest for our conference hall. All their appreciations & blessings were a great source of encouragement to me. Thanks to all of them.

All Glories to God.