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Post by crabtree on Dec 3, 2016 14:31:10 GMT
So do projections ever really work on stage? I'm not sure they do - my heart sinks a bit when ever that light comes on, often accompanied by rather limited animation. I saw Matthew bourne's Red Shoes last night, and the set was incredible, full of texture and fluid transformations, happily conveying a dozen different location, but then they transformed into one onstage ballet and it was breathtaking - a simple piece of stagecraft, changing from rich dark colours, to receding white wings and such. It didn't need distracting imagery projected on it, and slightly strobing animation. The sheer scale diminished what the cast were doing. I'm still of the feeling, and it's not necessarily old fashioned, that theatre is all about the now, and the shared experience, and somehow film and projections seem dead and mechanical. It's much loved at the moment, and heaven forbid that theatre should not move forward with technology, but I still love the rawness of theatre. It seems a rather cheap way to avoid scenic ingenuity.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2016 15:19:07 GMT
The company 1927 for one, whose work is completely built around projection and animation, works very well indeed. Off the top of my head Complicite's The Master and Margarita was also outstanding in its use. As with anything its use needs to be organic to the direction as a whole, not tagged on.
EDIT: I'd also add Curious Incident in its proscenium staging version and Headlong's 1984.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2016 15:26:25 GMT
Yeah 1927's Gollem was sublime! And the (possible) projection they use (a little too much) in The Harry Potter plays is pretty extraordinary
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2016 15:30:50 GMT
Yeah 1927's Gollem was sublime! And the (possible) projection they use (a little too much) in The Harry Potter plays is pretty extraordinary Yes it's projection and a real wow moment because it hides what it is (trying to be non spoilery here). |
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Post by anthony40 on Dec 3, 2016 15:35:06 GMT
I thought the projections for The Woman in White worked well.
They also worked well in The Libertine.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2016 15:37:38 GMT
Oh.
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Post by Jan on Dec 3, 2016 15:38:14 GMT
It was good, and entirely consistent with the play, at the end of the NT/Rupert Goold "Time and the Conways" when the characters were interacting with their younger selves.
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Post by profquatermass on Dec 3, 2016 15:42:04 GMT
The History Boys did it well - characters came out of corridors and onto the stage. That was when it was still quite exciting to have projections. Didn't Edward II at the NT have live relays from the roof of the theatre?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2016 16:56:04 GMT
The History Boys did it well - characters came out of corridors and onto the stage. That was when it was still quite exciting to have projections. Didn't Edward II at the NT have live relays from the roof of the theatre? They wernt 'live' but yes they did! I'm one of the few people that ADORED that show!! |
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Post by DuchessConstance on Dec 3, 2016 17:33:47 GMT
At the other end of the scale is the infamous RSC/Wooster Troilus and Cressida.
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Post by David J on Dec 3, 2016 17:51:18 GMT
What comes to mind is Lucy Bailey and her insistent reliance on her husband William Dudley's video projection
Julius Caesar, Winters Tale (not extensively used but still), King Lear (worst storm scenes I've ever seen)
Style over substance is that director
Too much projections leave the physical action feel empty and they can be a tad distracting
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Post by bellboard27 on Dec 3, 2016 18:32:07 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2016 0:46:29 GMT
At the other end of the scale is the infamous RSC/Wooster Troilus and Cressida. The video, from the Wooster Group. was fine. I don't recall any projections. It was the RSC contribution to that show which was inadequate. Or did you mean that the video was smallscale as it was shown on standard tv monitors? |
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Post by Phantom of London on Dec 4, 2016 0:58:37 GMT
Projection/film should be used to enhance the physical production, not dominate it.
For film it was really well used for Billy Elliot and Gypsy.
For projection I thought Love Never Dies, Stephen Ward andBodyguard are ones I can think of where projection is used well. However when you think back to Carousel at the Savoy, started well with projections of the Caousel, then it started to think it was Star Trek and went mad as did Wonderland, Lazirus seemed to go a bit over the top too.
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Post by Jan on Dec 4, 2016 8:49:36 GMT
At the other end of the scale is the infamous RSC/Wooster Troilus and Cressida. The video, from the Wooster Group. was fine. I don't recall any projections. It was the RSC contribution to that show which was inadequate. Or did you mean that the video was smallscale as it was shown on standard tv monitors? The Wooster Group contribution was fine ? Ha ha. It was heap big racist in my view. |
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Post by wickedgrin on Dec 4, 2016 10:05:30 GMT
Generally I am not a fan of projections. I don't think the technology is there yet really. It mostly is a lazy way to create different scenes or ambiance.
The Woman in White projections at the Palace Theatre ( mentioned above) were dreadful!! Who will ever forget the cast "walking" up the animated stairs. The cast were dwarfed by performing in front of what appeared to be giant IMAX screen. The stage lights "bleaching out" the projected light.Just dreadful.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2016 10:56:48 GMT
Generally I think a rule of thumb should be that if your production depends on projections to the point that you couldn't go ahead and perform in the event of projector breakdown, then you have too many and should go back to the drawing board.
Though that said, I will merrily contradict myself by declaring a fondness for 1927's work which depends entirely on projections. So I guess if you're using projections, you have to use them *well*. Subpar projection work will not do, but brilliant projection work will always get a pass.
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Post by synchrony on Dec 4, 2016 11:03:08 GMT
I loved the projections for The Hunting of the Snark. I thought they were groundbreaking for the time.
I also quite liked some of the projections in the Menier's Pippin (particularly the bit with all the internet dating profiles of women).
Otherwise, I feel quite neutral about projections most of the time.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2016 11:09:13 GMT
The Wooster Group contribution was fine ? Ha ha. It was heap big racist in my view. The only two video features that I remember were an historic film and smoke billowing from the apex of a wigwam. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2016 11:18:22 GMT
The projections in Macbeth by De Oscuro (which toured, including the Linbury Studio at the Royal Opera House) were outstandingly good. It was a multimedia production of Shakespeare's play which featured four spoken languages, choreography, a continuous new score played live by a string quartet, and a continuous video film projected in top quality on a large screen which filled the back of the stage picture. It was an incredibly rich and ambitious production and the projection element was one of the most effective and atmospheric components. The overall effect transformed the play into a live silent movie ballet play.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Dec 4, 2016 13:01:00 GMT
I thought the projections in the les mis 25 tour were very good. Some of the scenes, the suicide being one, worked better than the original.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2016 16:49:13 GMT
The Bodyguard uses projections INCREDIBLY well, especially at the beginning. It really hooks up you draws you into the drama with that 10 second Rachel Marron intro.
I like projections when used like that but don't like it when shows rely on projections as their set rather than an actual physical set
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Post by kathryn on Dec 4, 2016 16:49:25 GMT
I wasn't a fan of the Old Vic Lear, but the rain projection they used for the storm was very effective.
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Post by Phantom of London on Dec 4, 2016 19:37:48 GMT
The Bodyguard uses projections INCREDIBLY well, especially at the beginning. It really hooks up you draws you into the drama with that 10 second Rachel Marron intro. I like projections when used like that but don't like it when shows rely on projections as their set rather than an actual physical set Mentioned that above, but gives me a good chance to elaborate - I did love the bit where the Bodygard saves his client on a kind of catwalk, then you had jets of dry ice shoot up vertically, with a projection of the two on the dry ice, so clever mad effective. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2016 20:11:03 GMT
The stage lights "bleaching out" the projected light.Just dreadful. It always brings to mind the projectors at school when the window blinds jammed and wouldn't close, so you had images spanning a gamut of white to pale grey. It still seems to take some people by surprise that you can't project black. Perhaps they think they can compensate for it by switching on the electric dark bulbs. |
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