Breaking the Fifth Wall: Creating Theatre on a Telepresence Stage
In the light of lockdowns, the authors’ Telepresence Stage research project (2021–22) developed effective, affordable approaches to connect theatre and dance performers from their separate homes and place them together within virtual sets online. Combining videoconference and chromakey technologies with virtual scenography, the performers are freed from Zoom-style walled boxes and are able to physically interact, including (virtually) hugging, kissing or fighting one another. The theatrical tradition of ‘breaking the fourth wall’ to address the audience reaches another level, with the actors seemingly breaking a fifth wall, of space and time. Eight UK theatre and dance companies undertook residencies to develop new online performance works and to test and develop approaches using a range of software and hardware systems. The research findings are analysed from technological and artistic, as well as phenomenological perspectives, including considering issues of telepresence intimacy, empathy, proxemics, third-person perspectives, and the uncanny. Case studies draw on the verbatim reflections of participants, offering insights into the unique joys but equally the challenges of working on a telepresence stage. The chapter argues and demonstrates how the project not only had a profound effect on the resident companies, but is of lasting value and impact for the creative industries. The use of immersive virtual scenographies proved a significant spur to creativity, taking theatre troupes into whole new realms, and creating sequences and illusions that would be impossible in live theatre. The experiments herald new ways of working and performance delivery modalities that will long outlive the pandemic.
Citation:
Dixon, Steve, and Paul Sermon. ''Breaking the Fifth Wall: Creating Theatre on a Telepresence Stage.'' Adaptation and Resilience in the Performing Arts: The Pandemic and Beyond, edited by Pascale Aebischer, and Rachael Nicholas, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2024, pp. 65-89, doi: https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526172426.00011.
