21 novembro 2006

The Virtues of Virtual Shakespeare

In "La Tempête," the much buzzed about French-language production of "The Tempest" from the Montreal's 4D Art, are 10 actors. Four of them (those playing the roles of Prospero, Miranda, Ferdinand, and an Ariel/Caliban hybrid) appear live. The six others are virtual characters, their video images (with sound) projected onto the back wall; at times, projected off curved mirrored surfaces, they look three dimensional.

The high-tech wizardry is as cool as it sounds. Those swirling spirits and creepy, vein-like branches create an eerie backdrop for Prospero's dark sorcery. Especially thrilling is the movie magic that allows the otherworldly Ariel (and others) to materialize out of thin air.

Unfortunately, technological conceit is yoked to every moment of this "Tempest." With the house cinemadark and the actors dimly lighted to keep the video legible, watching "La Tempête" is less like theatergoing than like watching a big screen TV in the dark. As the evening wears on, we watch these figures at television distance, losing any hope of a warm rapport between actor and audience.

At the same time it pulls us away from the actors, the technology pulls the actors away from one another. It's astonishing how little the live actors look at one another. Mostly, they face forward, scarcely glancing at others or their celluloid counterparts. Soon, one stops distinguishing the live actors from the virtual ones; none of them seems to have any chance of being affected by anyone else onstage.

Even at an abridged 90 minutes, this "Tempest" drags. Partly, the inevitable reading of surtitles slows things down. But the production's three directors (Michel Lemieux, Victor Pilon, and Denise Guilbault) don't make it any easier by doubling the spirit roles of Ariel (good) and Caliban (bad).The actress Manon Brunelle plays both roles, layering gender confusion over character confusion. As a further wrinkle, Ferdinand (Pierre Etienne Rouillard) transforms from being a spirit to being a human at an early point.

We can thank "La Tempête," however, for illustrating the impracticability of trying to mix film and theater in proportions of roughly half and half. The video portion of "La Tempête" could never stand alone as a movie — its experiments with proportion and special effects are interesting only as expansions of stagecraft. (Michel Smith's mood music underscoring would need punching up, too.) Likewise, the play as directed here would make an evening of Shakespeare as arid as the giant red rock upon which these actors are perched.

One could conceive of a "Tempest" enhanced by some of 4D Art's visual effects but missing the messy (and unrewarding) complication of the virtual characters — a "Tempest" in which thrilling effects could be sprinkled sparingly over a fundamentally sound stage play. Then video would be just the latest gizmo in a theatrical bag of tricks that has grown steadily through the years.

But why would we need virtual stage characters — when we already have television and film? Why, especially, would we need virtual stage characters in Shakespeare? The video exchanges between a boozy Sebastien and his buddyTrinculo are a classic example of why not to mess with live Shakespeare. They were written to feed off belly laughs; here, they feel as if they've been cryogenically frozen.

In contrast, one of the production's few disarming moments comes when the live Miranda (Éveline Gélinas) and Ferdinand say goodbye over and over again but find it hard to let go of each other's hand. Their giggles remind us that the "Tempest" has bright peaks to go with its valleys; stuck in the dark with our big screen TV, we'd nearly forgotten this play had any sunlight.

A joke that fills the house with laughter, a line that starts shivers running down the spine, a tender stage kiss that's met with sighs. You can get those things with live theater. You can get them with film. But you can't get them with a hybrid that isolates and constrains all the actors involved. There may be an argument for virtual stage actors, but it's not "La Tempête."

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