Text by: Joanna Dong / 撰文:董一燃
Translated by: Syndi Huang / 翻譯:黃煥欣
While people have been repeatedly stressing that the world is becoming a global village, the concept of theatre stage, due to the popularity of the internet, has begun to blur. Nowadays, only to login in your computer or mobile devices, you are always able to grab the best seat watching the latest British elite dramas. This may sound too idealistic, however, Digital Theatre does realize this ideal.
The media company Digital Theatre, located in London, was founded by two British drama professionals Robert Delamere and Tom Shaw in 2009. Because of its close cooperation with many famous theatrical companies and producers, Digital Theatre has cumulated privileged resources to record outstanding stage performances into high-definition videos for internet promotion. Its partners includes many Britain’s leading theatrical companies, such as Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Court Theatre, Young Vic Theatre Company, and the number of partners has been increasing.
當人們一再強調世界成為了一個地球村的時候,戲劇舞臺也因互聯網的普及變得邊界模糊。如今,只需要在自己的電腦甚至移動設備上登錄,就可以隨時坐在劇場中最好的位子,觀看最新的英國舞臺精品。這聽起來也許太過理想主義,然而數字劇場(Digital Theatre)實現了這一理想。
創建並坐落於倫敦的傳媒公司數字劇場(Digital Theatre)由英國戲劇人羅伯特·德拉米爾(Robert Delamere)和湯姆·肖(Tom Shaw)於2009年創立。通過與許多著名的劇團和制作人的密切合作,使得數字劇場擁有得天獨厚的豐富資源,將舞臺上演出的優秀作品錄制成高清視頻在互聯網上傳播。合作者包括皇家莎士比亞劇院(Royal Shakespeare Company)、皇家宮廷劇場(Royal Court Theatre)、青年維克(Young Vic Theatre)等諸多英國領先的劇團,合作方數目上仍一直保持著上升的趨勢。
In this year’s growth, Digital Theatre has gradually identified three core businesses: online platform, educational resources and cinema viewing, in order to cover different audience. On the Digital Theatre website, all the works are carefully selected with huge box office success and great critic feedbacks. The works are divided into drama, opera, dance, musical and other categories, while drama is refined to Shakespeare, classical and new writing scripts, which are with various versions, for example, the Shakespeare scripts have different versions from the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare’s Globe theatre, Almeida Theatre and etc. With a computer, all these works are within access in front of private screen. It is indeed the paradise for drama lovers.
In order to better re-present the theatrical experience, Digital Theatre also chooses to operate with cinemas. Those greatly sought after and with tremendous box office success works often cannot meet the needs of all audience, as many people shamefully wait outside the theatre for any possible refund ticket. Therefore, Digital Theatre provides another possibility which will be accessible for more audience in the near future.
在今年的發展壯大中,數字劇場逐漸確定了三個核心業務:在線平臺、教育資源以及院線點映。通過三個不同的業務,覆蓋不同的觀眾群體。在數字劇場的網站上,我們看到精心選擇的劇目全部是自近幾年來,擁有優異的票房記錄和戲劇評論的作品。作品分為戲劇、歌劇、舞蹈、音樂劇等,戲劇類中又細化為莎劇、經典劇本和新寫作。僅就莎劇一類,就有來自皇家莎士比亞劇院,莎士比亞寰球劇院、阿爾梅達劇院等不同劇團的版本,能在一臺電腦前同時擁有觀看全部這些作品的私人屏幕,這簡直就是戲劇愛好者的天堂。
為了能夠更好地復原劇場觀看的體驗,數字劇場同時還選擇電影院線來合作。那些極其熱門,門票大賣的作品很多時候不能滿足觀眾的需求,很多人遺憾地徘徊在劇場門口等待退票。數字劇場為人們提供了另一種可能性,在不久的未來同樣可以一飽眼福。
Also worth to mention is the Digital Theatre Plus, up to date the world’s most advanced digital high definition performance arts resource. This is an online education platform mainly to present a selection of the most classical and the latest British and American stage works in full length, the behind-the-scene interviews of theatre masters and first-class performance artists, and educational guidance materials compiled in depth by British scholars and drama practitioners. The development team of Digital Theatre Plus, with an average of 40 years of industry experience, thoroughly understands how to help students to better analyze and understand scripts, and improve teaching results.
For the concept of Digital Theatre Plus, education should never be restrained by geographical reasons. The UK boasts excellent theatre resources that should be shared in a more economical way by educators and students around the world. At present, Digital Theatre Plus embraces users from Yale University, Columbia University, New York University and other world-class universities. In Asia, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts is the first higher educational institution to introduce Digital Theatre Plus to professional drama education.
But above all, Digital Theatre has conformingly expressed they are unable to replace the tradition theatre, the charm of which is incomparable. It is just similar to the photographic technique which has undergone hundred-year development that despite of the most exquisite photos, people have not been prevented from experiencing the authentic scenery on the other side of the world.
另外還值得一提的是數字劇場專業版(Digital Theatre Plus),是目前全世界最先進的數字化高清表演藝術資源。這是一個在線的教育平臺,在這個平臺上,集中展示了精選的英美最經典、最新的全本舞臺作品,劇場大師和一流表演藝術家的幕後采訪,以及由英國學者和戲劇實踐者深入編撰的教學指導教材。數字劇場專業版(Digital Theatre Plus)的開發團隊,平均擁有40年的行業經驗,確切地了解如何幫助學生們更好地分析和了解劇本、提高教學收獲。
在數字劇場專業版(Digital Theatre Plus)的理想中,教育永遠不應該因為地理的原因而受到阻隔。英國擁有優秀的劇場資源,這些都應該被世界各地的教育者和學生以更為經濟的方式所共享。目前,數字劇場專業版(Digital Theatre Plus)在全世界擁有耶魯大學、哥倫比亞大學、紐約大學等世界一流大學的用戶群體。在亞洲,香港演藝學院也成為第一家將在數字劇場專業版(Digital Theatre Plus)引進教學的戲劇專業高等學府。
但是無論怎樣,數字劇場一再強調,他們是無法取代傳統劇場的。劇場的魅力不可言說,這就仿佛照相技術已經發展了百年,但是再精致的照片也無法阻止人們去體驗地球另一端那些真實的風景。