Introduction
In this Chapter:
What is digital streaming, hybrid, and online performance? Differences between Live Streaming and On-Demand
Why would you consider online performance for your show?
Examples of digital performance and streaming experiences as well as other ‘live theatrical experiences’ that might fall out of the realm of streaming
What is digital streaming, hybrid, and online performance? Differences between Live Streaming and On-Demand
With digital work an often confused term is the word “live” which is mistaken for “in-person” when, in reality, fully online/digital work can be live and not live. In this vein, let's look at a couple of the terms we’ll use and what they mean:
Live Streaming is the act of taking content that exists offline and then broadcasting that content to the internet so that it can be viewed by people around the world. The content that you stream can be pretty much anything, whether it’s a live camera feed or pre-recorded content that is being played back in the moment, or some combination of these two. There are many ways to get content online, and many website platforms through which it can be accessed.
Hybrid performances, in the context of digital theatre, are shows that include an in-person presentation as well as some online component. This could mean simply filming the show live and streaming it in realtime to Youtube or Vimeo; but it also means that a show does not have to be fully presented in the exact same fashion to your in-person and online audiences. For example: perhaps your in-person audience has some kind of participation element where one or two of them are called up onstage to be part of an evil scientist’s experiment, and your online audience gets to decide what happens to them through a vote, playing the role of an evil computer program. The ways in which you can vary the experiences for your online and in-person audiences are as many as the ways you can adapt a traditional theatre script for the stage.
Online performance or digital theatre is an umbrella term for a combination of live streamed presentations, hybrid performances which are both in-person and online, and pre-recorded shows that exist online for audiences on-demand. Many online platforms exist that are for more than just streaming video and include playful ways for you and your audience to interact. There is also the possibility of creating your own websites and user interfaces which can greatly expand the ways in which your theatre piece can exist online.
On-Demand means being able to access the content you’ve created whenever your audience wants to. This is like the Netflix version of online performance, in that you have filmed your piece and have stored it on the internet on some platform for people to access whenever. Some people may argue that this isn’t theatre since it isn’t ‘live’ but we want you to be able to get your creations out there in whatever way you can and we aren’t judging! The term Streaming (without the live) can also be used to refer to accessing this kind of content.
Why would you consider online performance for your show?
There are many reasons why you would consider taking your work online, but just to name a few:
Accessibility - Some audience members have difficulty travelling to a theatre, and we know that a lot of theatre venues are themselves not physically accessible for those with mobility issues. When you have an online performance your audience is able to enjoy your show from the comfort of their homes regardless of what barriers, physical or otherwise, might prevent them from attending an in-person show. Online performance also adds a layer of technical possibility by adding an affordable way to include subtitling, or audio description without necessitating extra equipment like in-ear listening systems in person
Wider Engagement - Theatre has traditionally been an in-person and local art form, which necessitates a touring budget and team in order to be able to bring the presentation to different cities and countries. With online performance you are able to simultaneously reach the entire world from the physical comfort and economical space of your theatre’s home base
New forms of art and interaction - Online creation offers many new ways of interacting with your performance and your audience, and while not being exactly ‘new’ in terms of history, the artform is still being explored and discovered, and has of course become more mainstream since the COVID-19 pandemic. (Note: the history is a bit hard to track, but Youtube was created in 2005 and webcams were first commercially available in 1994 so that gives you an idea of how long humans have been performing online)
Health and Safety - The pandemic brought to light a greater need for protecting those of our audience and cast/crew who may be immunocompromised. One way to keep everyone safe is by bringing your performance online so as to keep your audience and cast socially distant