Digital Theatre

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Mar 042011
 

Melbourne’s The Age newspaper reported this week about British-based Internet venture Digital Theatre, who have secured corporate deals with many of Britain’s leading theatre companies for digital downloads of full-length stage productions.

Companies currently represented include The Royal Shakespeare Company (The Comedy of Errors, As You Like It), the Royal Court, Almeida Theatre, the Young Vic and the English Touring Theatre. Productions are available as complete downloads (SD, HD) or as streaming media (VOD – video on demand) for reasonable prices (8.99 pounds).

Unfortunately, there are only about 10 shows currently available for download. At the moment this is a bit limiting, but the concept is indeed a great one and this sort of venture should be supported by drama and theatre teachers, as video footage outside of quick YouTube clips is uncommon for productions from well-renowned companies such as these.

All downloads on Digital Theatre are legal with the various copyright holders receiving appropriate royalties.

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 Posted by Justin Cash at 8:00 am  Classroom Activities, Technology

YouTube in Drama Education

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Mar 032011
 

I’m sure most Drama and Theatre teachers reading this blog have made better use of YouTube in their classes than myself, but yesterday in a Year 9 Drama course studying various forms of comedy, YouTube effectively erased my DVD comedy collection in the Drama department at school.

After spending a few hundred dollars five years ago purchasing old films of the Marx Bros, The Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Charlie Chaplin, Monty Python and the like on DVD, yesterday YouTube and an interactive whiteboard used as a projector became a far better option. Of course, other people had ripped and uploaded to YouTube all the funny scenes I had intended to show from the various movies.

But the best part of the lesson was a group of 14 year-olds fully embracing black and white video, and even silent video in the case of some Charlie Chaplin, while laughing hysterically. Even after deconstructing the routines and analysing where the slapstick or satire was evident, the students still enjoyed the experience beyond my expectations when it became academic.

I showed my class the very famous Abbott and Costello routine Who’s on First? as an example of stand-up with excellent comic timing (they are simply standing in front of a curtain when delivering the script), the train scene in The Marx Bros film Go West where they chop up the carriages as firewood for the engine, a number of cream pie fights from The Three Stooges and the cabin scene from The Marx Bros film A Night At The Opera where about 20 people all roll out of the door at the end. Not to mention the globe scene from Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator – in fact this was their favourite comic scene of about a dozen showed that lesson and that alone made my day as a Drama teacher.

YouTube, like Google, is bread and butter Internet use in the classroom these days, but I’d still like to hear Drama teachers share with everyone some of your innovative uses of YouTube in the drama classroom or even simple use of it that turned into great experiences. Comment below.

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 Posted by Justin Cash at 11:11 am  Classroom Activities, Technology

Spider-Man’s First Preview

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Nov 292010
 

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark turned on the lights at Foxwoods Theatre in New York last night. Nine years in the making and many delays later, Broadway’s most ambitious show yesterday opened to the public for the first time.

Initial reactions seem to be what most in the industry expected, including spectacular flying sequences over the audience’s heads and several technical hitches resulting in a number of stops. By Broadway standards last night’s performance may have seemed more like a technical rehearsal than the opening preview, but take one look at last night’s 60 Minutes television footage (below) and its not hard to see why.

The clock is ticking. Only six weeks left to sort out the glitches before opening night on 11 January 2011. For a show this size, it looks like the creative team may be working a little holiday overtime.

The New York Times Preview Review

BroadwayWorld User Message Board

For Drama/Theatre teachers reading this post, the 60 Minutes TV article below, is 14 minutes of behind-the-scenes musical theatre bliss! The footage includes fantastic shots of the Spider-Man scenery at various stages of production. Well worth showing your students.

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 Posted by Justin Cash at 6:40 pm  Industry, Technology
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