Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2009 - 11

Beckett's plays are minimalist, they require little scenery and
few costumes. But theatre is always minimalist, a compressed
form. Theatre compared to a novel is a haiku compared to an
epic poem. But while the form is minimal, production values
are becoming maximal.
The dichotomy of an exploding technical production applied to condensed form is often the rule today. The explosion
of technology allows for a complexity undreamed of a half century ago. The other side of the coin is an economic reality that
has fostered solos and two-handers, something rarely seen in
the past.
Technological advances are not universally accepted.
As a saying goes, every scientific and technological advance
diminishes humans. So we see cultural contradictions that pit
technological advances against the desire to respect the sanctity
of unaided human accomplishments. One example is musical
theatre where amplifying the human voice is now standard but
in most opera houses it is a sin
Minimal or maximal technology, that is often the question-not only in theatre but in society as well. A contradiction
in sports makes it illegal to take anabolic steroids to change
the body but allows equipment to be scientifically improved.
Whether it be new materials in tennis rackets, golf clubs, or
body suits that cut down friction in competitive swimming,
outside-the-body technology is OK.
Similarly, all sorts of cell phones that do miraculous things
extend our physical selves but we have become wary of what we

ingest. I live in a city that has yet to fluoridate its water. And
supermarkets are finding more and more buyers for organic
foods. Included in this label are foods that have not been genetically modified.
Science is also divided between physics that is always
simplifying and biology that becomes increasingly complex.
Physicists look for the theory of everything and historically,
breakthroughs occurred when there were such discoveries as
the electromagnetic force that was found to include electricity,
magnetism, and light. Biologists find that DNA is coupled with
RNA and their working is unimaginably complicated. The New
York Times reports that Dr. Evelyn Fox Keller says "it is quite
possible that biology is 'irreducibly complex' and not entirely
accessible to rational analysis."
Touring concerts present an interesting dichotomy. If we
translate big and small into space, how do we think about aesthetic distance, of near and far, when many thousands of people
are so far from the stage at concerts that Jumbotrons are used
to show close-ups of the performers? Then add the explosion of
technical effects. I think Pascal would tell us that it is easier to
use a zillion flashing and moving lights, smoke, lifts, fireworks,
and moving scenery, and much harder for a single performer in
a spotlight to hold an audience. But he has been dead lo these
hundreds of years. If he were alive today, he just might be a
computer wizard and applaud using all the technology at hand.
Even so, I think he would still believe that small and simple
takes more time and is harder. v

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2009