“Welcome to the Nano-In-Vitro-Decode-Dotcom-Cyper-Hype-Theatre!” was the title of an essay I read a few days ago in a German theatre magazine.

The author tried to convince his readers, that in this present time of computer technology and “spiritual machines”, theatre could only be functional, if it liberated itself from its traditional forms (real actors, living people on stage doing art) and that it was to reflect the “spirit of time” by using all the methods and means of the quoted computer technology to transmit a message to the audience. Away with actors, plays, away with this face-to-face confrontation with the audience, and time for a performance of lights, sounds, video clips etc. Thus, so he concluded, theatre could finally surpass its crisis.

What is this “spirit of time” I wonder.

Yes, it is marvelous to see, what technology can do, fascinating to use it on stage, but my ideas of theatre will always be connected with the idea of a live and real performance.

And somewhere (being helplessly old-fashioned) I do insist, that some things are real and defined, no matter what fashion streams come along.

Right, we have read that in 2002 Harry Potter, Smoking, "Masterpiece Theatre", Poppy seeds, Birds and Muckety-Mucks  were “out” and Frodo Baggins, Nail biting, "Antiques Roadshow", No added salt, Rats and  Muckrakers were “in”, but what does that prove, and after all, who cares?

And talking about any crisis in theatre, well…

Talking about the crisis in theatre is so old, it has become boring. Everything has become boring, discussions are boring and theatre is the boring thing of them all! Or is this just another piece of propaganda we are supposed to swallow?

We know it, we discuss it eagerly. And never do anything about it. Even the question about what was there before everything got flushed down the toilet, is without importance anymore.

It is the system, we knew this phrase by heart and are so glad to have found something to hide behind, something that does not reveal our ignorance, lack of talent, lack of competence and our cowardness in general.

Tons of theories and schools, plenty of experience, hardly any consciousness. Sad, but true!

Politics don’t take place on stage anymore, but behind the stage.

Theatres need money and an audience, this we also know for decades now – and in order to get both, they accept almost everything that comes from sponsors, funds, the state, and whoever has got the cash and the power.

And there are only very small steps taken out of the ghetto of art: direction versus reality, connections to be exploited at any cost and people isolated with their visions and their credo, talented people, great minds, geniuses, pushed into isolation and silence, and -to make them obedient, into unemployment.

(What did Brecht say about morality and food?)

True however, money makes the world go round, and the centrepiece of society is the employment market.

Good people at good jobs with high salaries (the army of the machine-humans-bites in the system, with somewhat taylorised commands; but who wants to be an individual, an outsider?)

Not to forget the outer zone of employment of the difficult ones (such as artists, women, etc.  I do not want to analyse anything here.)

And of course, the army of the unemployed in the background, the target for speeches before elections, the target for everyone who can promise ways to “forget misery”.

So, we do have an increased need for entertainment, that has to be cheap at the same time for the one group, and a need for entertainment for the cash cardholders? The spirit of time?

Which is what: pre-cut everything, such as TV, where sitcoms indicate what is funny by built in laughs, and again TV, where you can choose your singers, who will form a band who resembles to the band before, and another Big Brother show, and another spot about morality, to make us see what we are supposed to be after all! Tell us, TV, what we are supposed to be to become successful, hm?  Who are the ones who arenot the losers? Right! White, American, preferably Protestant, but certainly non smokers, (however social drinkers), with silicon implants and fake teeth, brain implants, workaholics with no personal odour, opinion, taste…and if we are anything different from that, well, some are lucky, but it’s the equal rights policies, and TV is not life and vice versa. (And doesn’t David Bowie say in his song “I’m afraid of Americans” that G_d is American, too? So, who will help us if we don’t do it ourselves?)

So, what do we need theatres for?

We are our own theatre, and TV is our big stage.

Or have we got a few minutes left?

If TV is not life, where is life? On stage?

Packed up in some box behind some closed curtains?

Away from this society that seems to be nothing but a mixture of cash and techno-zombies?

"The theatre has been created to drain abscesses collectively,» says Antonin Artaud.

Brecht believed capitalism was the source of selfishness. Maybe a combination of these two statements can lead once again to a new approach what can be done on a stage?

It was always a mistake to continue where things have stopped. This cannot be done.

But there is always a feeling of resistance, and art is only born in this spirit.

Art is concrete! Theatre can be concrete! And concrete art, concrete theatre needs concrete directors, concrete and human actors, concrete people to run theatres not only with a calculator and the finest technical equipment, but also with a vision.

An empty stage is the death of theatre. And a stage where the computer takes over completely has nothing to do with theatre anymore. A dead stage is the death of a civilization.

This should be only one of the reasons to go on. Today and again tomorrow. Never mind the crisis…

Warm embraces for all of you out there that still have the theatre under your skin!

 ©2003 Andrea Kapsaski

For more commentary and articles by Andrea Kapsaski, check the Archives.

Andrea Kapsaski is a Ph.D scholar, translator,
theatre and film producer, and a hell of a cook.

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