Multimedia For Judith

[Gary Chambers]

Re: Multimedia For Judith

Judith van Wessel Wrote:

>...I think I missed your question about multimedia
>in theatre. I'm also interested in this subject.
>I'm studying theatrescience in Amsterdam and
>for my last year I want to write a paper on this
>subject. I understood that you got some information.
>I would appriciate it if you could inform me about
>books, articles and so on. I would also like to hear
>what you are going to do with it.

>Thanks, greetings, Judith van Wessel
>Judith.van.Wessel at let.uva.nl
>Amsterdam
>The Netherlands


Hi Judith,

        At the end of this mailing is a collection of snips
from the responses I received on CANDRAMA.

        I hope you don't mind, but I am going to post this
to the whole CANDRAMA group, for two reasons.  One: I
never did explain what I wanted the information for.
Two: others may have further information for you.

        I worked for almost twenty years in journalism,
and spent seven of those years in England.  Upon
returning to Canada I found there is very little
work available here in journalism.  So I started
exploring other types of writing.  Recently I have
begun to concentrate on dramatic art, which has
always been another great interest of mine.

        I do the odd bit of acting, but writing is my
main interest.  I am scheduled to start a multimedia
course starting in the fall.  It is my hope that I can
find ways to incorporate that technology into the
scripts I write.

So I put a posting on CANDRAMA asking for information
about people who have been breaking new ground in theatre,
through the use of multimedia technology.  I feel
learning all I can about their techniques, is a good
way to start my own creative journey.

In particular, I was interested in gathering some
information about a troupe called The Black Box, out
of Czechoslovakia.  I've heard wonderful things about
their work.

Below are some excerpts from the responses I received.
I hope you find these leads useful.

Gary Chambers


**************
>All of the works by Robert Lepage...
**************
>One company here in Toronto that springs to mind is
>VideoCabaret International. They have been around
>since the 1970's, creating performance pieces that
>integrate video and live action....Videocabaret is
>discussed in several issues of Canadian Theatre Review.
>You should >also check out CTR #81, which was all
>about computers and theatre in Canada.
**************
>I suspect the production you refer to may be the
>production by Laterna Magika  (Czechoslovakia) of
>*The Lost Fairy Tale* by Peter Folta, directed by
>Jaromil Jires, assisted by Jan Svankmajer (of Black
>Box Theatre), scenography by Josef Svoboda.  It used
>Svoboda's multiple split screen Laterna Magika
>technology (as demonstrated at Expo 67), film, live
>actors and dancers, music, and black light
**************
>...some of the longest lines at Expo 67 in Montreal
>existed ouside the Chech Pavillion.  The show there
>consisted of an artist viewing a mountain scene and
>then beginning to paint.  As he touched the canvas
>with his brush, brush strokes appeared on a screen.
>A young woman approached and then stole his pallette.
>The chase began with then running in and out of
>screens.  Sometimes they were live, othertimes they were
>at the base of the mountain.  I recall three screens,
>but, perhaps, there were more.  I recommend that you
>begin by looking for material from Expo 67. Look into
>the work of scenographer Josef Svoboda.  He pioneered
>a lot of this work.  There is a book about him.
********************
>>From your description of the performance, it reminds me
>of Laterna Magica, a company from Tchekoslovakia
>who performed at Terre Des Hommes, Exposition Universelle,
>Montreal, 1967...It also probably has to do with the
>work of Svoboda, the Tchek set designer / scenographer.
>Some of the videos on his work are quite interesting as
>far as the techniques of the stage are concerned.
*******************
>I recall seeing a performance of something resembling
>what you refer to here at Expo '67 in Montreal, at
>the Czech pavilion.  You may recall that at that time,
>Czechoslovakian artists/film-makers/playwrights/etc.
>were enjoying a surge of new creativity (which was put
>down by the Russian tanks in 1968).  Josef Svoboda
>was the director/creator behind the performances
>at the Czech pavilion in Montreal.  You might
>consult the newspaper and magazine reports and
>descriptions that no doubt appeared during the
>April-October 1967 period.  I don't recall a
>lot about the performance; the one thing that sticks
>with me is that we saw a live actor start out
>downstage, and run full tilt upstage, into the screen,
>and then his image continued running away from the
>audience on film..And there was an absolutely seamless
>quality to the continuity between the film and live
>images.
*************
>As for other early  "multi-media", Erwin Piscator
>made tremendous use of film and projections. More
>recently, the Toronto company, VideoCabaret, did
>some excellent multi-media stuff in the 70's and
'80's.
*************

---
Gary Chambers            e-mail: GCHAMBERS at upanet.uleth.ca
Public Access Internet
The University of Lethbridge