Welcome To Everything

Well one event i went to see (with possible the poorest attendance ever), has really given me thought for paws!!

I went to see the Tony Saint lecture in the IOCT on thursday. Sure it would be full and there would be no room, but yes, entry was easy. Of the 25 seats set out only 8 got filled (2 fillers were the CE staff!). He presented a good lecture about the history of online performances (mostly drama related) and showed us how, the first online performance of hamlet took an unexpected turn half way through, Ophelia deciding to kill off hamlet. Also, the audience (other chatters) were allowed to join in the action adding also to the newness factor of it.

Also he took us into the digital virtual world of Second Life. A world where real people have bodies, faces, jobs, private land and money! He took us to the region of his own university (of scarborough's) island in the game and showed two students rehearsing for a play to be performed inside the game. This may at first sound like the small domain of a large group of geeks, but there are tens of millions of people registered, and almost one hundred thousand online at the last count (earlier today).

Inside the game also, he took us to a faithfull recreation of shakespeare's globe theatre (one of three that exist in the game), where we could look around the theatre (most doors in this world are open. Later on in the night, it would be possible to come here and SEE hamlet being performed, with characters speaking lines through microphones from the real world. With people's avatars (digital versions of their bodies) moving on the stage to the actions, although the motions are still very much restricted to moving to places, with the occaisional gesture. Is this the 21st century theatre?

I'm not sure, but i was intrigued enough to go home and download and log-on to the Second Life world (it's free and you can earn money). To find out. I'm still exploring the vast places in the game, follow my progress if you wish at: http://slcrinkle.blogspot.com/

So yes, by far and large i would say that, even above the mighty sessions with Tom Leonard, "andburntprogress", this lecture alone was worth waiting for. Maybe because in my fleetingly spare moments, i am always wondering where the future of our little world of theatre is going, maybe because its geeky. Who knows?