Театър по време на пандемия: стари и нови предизвикателства
Theatre in the Time of the Pandemic: Old and New Challenges

Summary/Abstract: The paper identifies the radical re-examination of theatre’s relationship with the digital technologies as a main result of its existence in the pandemic situation which has spread worldwide over the past two years. The state of social isolation and online communication has to put to a severe test the two fundamental beliefs at the heart of contemporary theatre art. Above all, the large scale broadcast via satellite transmissions, streaming and various online performance formats (featuring both emblematic and established theatre classics as well as brand new productions on the European stages) undermine the conviction that the renewal of theatre through the digital technologies will happen unconditionally. The experiencing of a number of online theatre productions clearly allows for a differentiation between the true innovative multimedia performances and the traditional ones employing technologies only as means to reach their audiences. The pandemic situation also casts new light on the second basic axiom and provokes a re-examination of its definite, until recently, conviction that theatre as an art form which offers physical togetherness and shared experience will always be of absolute necessity in an increasingly technologized world that creates distance between people. The analysis of these key questions is supported by emblematic examples taken from the contemporary theatre practice.

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