Last night, I watched live opera for The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. No – not in the theatre itself, but at home. Now let’s be honest, I’d rather see the performance live but there wasn’t a choice. Its better to have something than nothing. Some day soon, we will all be back in theatres anyway so this is only a short term compromise. What I saw was very impressive and bodes well for the future.
One of the hot issues that will come up in our scenario planning workshops will be the role of streaming and the effect it will have on the broader business models. Be that as it may, there are some big opportunities on the horizon. Anyone involved in the technology to bring live shows to the internet is going to see business increase. Designers will be incorporating cameras into their sets and anyone in support teams making this happen will be at the front of the queue when producers and theatre companies decide that they need the affordable streaming option to augment their existing business models.
A word of encouragement for students. You may feel dispirited about what is going on today. Like everyone else, you really miss an audience. However, what you are delivering today is at the cutting edge and it may well be that live audio and vision mixing becomes normal practice. Whilst many will have to learn new skills – you got there first!