sarah_the_bold's review
3.0
The idea of writing an 80 page book about the relationship between theatre and "the digital" is daunting, and author Bill Blake acknowledges that immediately. Rather than try to conduct an exhaustive survey of the relationship, he focuses on several examples of ways that people have found of reconciling theatre and digital media, in performances that their authors believe to be groundbreaking in some way. For example, one group experimented with the mediation of experience that digital media provides, as a contrast to live theatre, by producing a live performance that was viewed as if through a camera, on continuous repeat. Another group used a computer algorithm to combine existing texts randomly, and had them read live by actors in a site-specific piece. There are also twitter plays, iPod plays, and anything else you can imagine.
Many critics bewail the coming of the digital as the end of theatre as we know it, but Blake approaches the digital as a medium for creative transformation, not destruction. This is not because he thinks that is the only option, but because it is the most interesting one. This type of pragmatism keeps the book refreshing - I also enjoyed his criticism of several theatre groups mission statements as largely meaningless and abstract, which is a personal pet peeve of mine.
I found some parts of this book to be long on vocab and short on content, which is a shame for a book series that the editor claims should be "above all, clear." But for the most part, the writing was purposeful and not too 'artspeak-y'. The biggest irony of this book is the fact that I think it may have been presented in a less than ideal medium. Considering that almost every page referenced a YouTube video, website, or blog, it may have been better suited to a digital presentation, where it could have hyperlinked to the related sites. But once you get over the fact that you're going to have to either do a lot of googling or type a lot of long URLs, this book and its Further Reading section are a goldmine of information on the ideas touched on in the book. Ultimately, the book is a stepping off point, not an end in itself.
Many critics bewail the coming of the digital as the end of theatre as we know it, but Blake approaches the digital as a medium for creative transformation, not destruction. This is not because he thinks that is the only option, but because it is the most interesting one. This type of pragmatism keeps the book refreshing - I also enjoyed his criticism of several theatre groups mission statements as largely meaningless and abstract, which is a personal pet peeve of mine.
I found some parts of this book to be long on vocab and short on content, which is a shame for a book series that the editor claims should be "above all, clear." But for the most part, the writing was purposeful and not too 'artspeak-y'. The biggest irony of this book is the fact that I think it may have been presented in a less than ideal medium. Considering that almost every page referenced a YouTube video, website, or blog, it may have been better suited to a digital presentation, where it could have hyperlinked to the related sites. But once you get over the fact that you're going to have to either do a lot of googling or type a lot of long URLs, this book and its Further Reading section are a goldmine of information on the ideas touched on in the book. Ultimately, the book is a stepping off point, not an end in itself.
More...