The rise of recorded theatre easily available online makes us ask the question of what is special about going to the theatre and seeing performances live. Is there a difference?
It is undeniable that there is a large contrast between watching actors perform in front of you as opposed to on screen. Authentic, real life acting creates a poignant feeling, blurring the lines between reality and fiction. Viewing a play in person allows for the audience to have a visceral, poignant reaction, and actors can detect such immersion from the audience too.
The connection between the performers and the audience is certainly a unique thing that only takes place during live theatre. Ian Mackintosh argues that in live theatre a dynamic is formed where energy flows both ways between audiences and performers. Actors recognise the audience’s captivation through their body language; if they laugh, cry, hold their breaths audibly, make an aural “aww” reaction, lean forward, etc, or by sensing more abstract things like general tension, fear or shock in the audience.
This is part of what makes acting so electrifying. The enthusiasm projected through the audience makes the actors perform with more passion and liveliness. The audience, in turn, will feel they are being listened to and become even more enthralled. This unspoken ‘conversation’ between the audience and performers leads to an incredibly vibrant atmosphere, making live theatre incomparable with recorded theatre.
I believe live theatre is more mesmerising because you're sharing a transient moment with actors and audiences, one you’ll never be able to replicate and re-live. I think that’s what actress Marielle Heller meant when she said “the special part of live theater is that it exists and then it's gone.” Performances can’t be reproduced, they’re unique to time and place. Every actor knows that a performance never comes out, or feels the same way twice. Part of that is because this energy between performers and audiences changes each time.
Of course, online theatre can evoke a visceral reaction. It is not the emotion that is lost through online viewing, it is the connection between the viewer and the actors that cannot be recreated. Through a screen, theatre becomes something else, it is still a play, but not a performance.
A performance for me is inextricably linked with audiences and performers interacting. In the audience you live through a performance rather than view it. This could not be done without the play's scenography. Whereby sound and lighting are experienced rather than simply seen and heard. Music and sound effects will feel louder with speakers or a live band resonating in the theatrical space. Lighting is dramatised and focuses on the stage, allowing for the audience to be completely submerged in the performance. Think back to when you’ve watched a clip of a concert you’ve gone to and immediately acknowledged how you cannot compare watching it with being there. That’s because cameras rarely show the whole stage, but instead move from character to character, to different parts of the set, and then showing the audience. You feel everything more during live performances.
Another experience that is lost in recorded theatre is that of theatrical venues. Live theatre is so different from watching an online performance because it becomes a day out, finding the venue and your seats. Waiting in the audience for the play to start... A smaller theatre such as the Mermaid’s Art Center may create a sense of familiarity and intimacy. You may feel more comfortable, relaxed and even closer connected to other audience members. Meanwhile, a larger theatre, perhaps a national one like the Abbey may feel more grandiose.
Although you’re still seeing and hearing the same lights and sound, you aren’t experiencing them, those which can never be replicated. Due to this, I almost have a nostalgia for the present, knowing I’ll never be able to live this moment again, even if I watch the same performance the next day, it is never the same as before. That makes me feel very privileged to be in the audience (yes, despite the money I paid). Physically seeing the stage may also influence the emotional response projected through the audience. The proscenium stage, whereby audiences sit in front of a live performer, indefinitely evoke more of an emotional response compared to watching the performance through a screen.
Although you can react with the audience when watching online performances, as the camera also records their responses. Watching a performance live is so special because of the connection and interaction it allows between audiences and performers, which leads to an incredibly unique atmosphere. In live theatre, audiences are physically present, allowing for them to experience the effects of set, sound and lighting, as well as the venue and type of stage. These are all important elements of theatre, which, of course do not make a play a play, but they do make a performance become a performance; something that cannot be replicated through a screen.