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Holding the Digital Mirror Up to Nature - A Practice-as-Research Project Exploring Digital Media Techniques in Live Theatre

Files

Whole exegesis(820.27 KB)

Date

2009

Authors

Supervisor

Johnson, Rosser
Gallagher, Sue

Item type

Thesis

Degree name

Master of Arts in Communication Studies

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Auckland University of Technology

Abstract

Is an actor performing live if that actor is out of sight in the wings and appears on stage as a computer-mediated representation? Is co-presence with such a mediated embodiment problematic for the performer? This project seeks to explore the use of digital media elements, from the perspective of the actor, in the collaborative process of devising, designing, rehearsing and performing a Shakespearian theatre production. It raises issues of the creative possibilities that applications of new technologies afford and of a changing perception of the nature of liveness. Can digital media techniques usefully enhance the liveness of performance and extend the audience’s experience of the production? Specifically, can it augment their perception of themselves, mirrored on stage? Exploring the usefulness of digital media techniques takes a theatre practitioner into the intermedial, liminal spaces where the two fields converge. These are spaces of possibility where new ways of working might emerge. This thesis is presented primarily as an experimental performance and is contextualised by this exegesis with its written and DVD components.

Description

Keywords

Practice as research, Digital media and live theatre, Liveness, Mediated embodiment, Actor's perspective, Shakespeare

Source

DOI

Publisher's version

Rights statement

Permanent link

https://hdl.handle.net/10292/792

Collections

Masters Theses