Improv theatre group improvises online and improves takings
It’s going to be a long time before anyone will want to sit in the dark surrounded by a bunch of strangers, says Hayleigh Evans, founder of the POPArt theatre.
The once lively little venue in Maboneng, Johannesburg, is dark now, closed for the Covid-19 lockdown that won’t allow people to frequent the theatre again until even level 1 is lifted. To survive and keep itself and its actors top of mind, POPArt has tweaked the experimental nature it was founded on and gone online.
I tuned in for the second of its Improv Online sessions last week, when six comedic actors, including James Cairns and Toni Morkel, performed a series of sketches and games via Zoom. Almost as in real life, the audience could suggest topics for the skits, and heckle if they felt the urge.
It wasn’t perfect, obviously. The actors must stay within sight of their laptop cameras, so mad flamboyance is replaced with a mere stilted bobbing. Worse, though, is the lack of camaraderie that builds up in a theatre as our laughter feeds off itself. Still, there was a magical air that comes from the human interaction we’re all craving to break the isolation.
“The most important thing for POPArt is that this experimental space has to continue. What we’re doing now is experimental as we’re trying to figure out the best way that live performances can translate into the virtual space without doing long-term brand damage, because ultimately we want people to come back to the physical space.”
Actors everywhere are now starring in their own tragedies, with their income instantly curtailed and no success stories so far about government support. Yet some still haven’t accepted the need to morph into online performances, Evans says.
“I’m sensing a polarisation. A lot of people are live practitioners and that’s how they identify, but the important realisation is that we have to adapt. You have to participate for survival and most important for POPArt is that we continue to provide a platform.”
The idea of broadcasting live improv came when the lockeddown players held their usual weekly rehearsal via Zoom.
“We said wow, this could work if we opened it up to an audience,” Evans says.
DONATIONS
Two things have been hugely encouraging. First, viewers can make donations, and the income has been higher than it would be for a full house of physical tickets. That’s a novelty for POPArt, which sometimes battled to persuade people to attend shows in downtown Johannesburg at night. People who can’t afford to pay can also watch without fear of judgment.
Second, the show reached several countries. “We had an audience from all over the world and that’s so cool because the audience online is vast — you can do the same thing every day and more people can join in without exhausting the market,” Evans says.
Other theatres are keeping the arts alive by screening prerecorded plays and asking for donations.
The UK’s National Theatre records world-class productions for NTLive cinema screenings, and it is broadcasting a play every week free, with a typically British understated request for donations.
Cape Town’s Fugard Theatre screened a prerecorded production of Master Harold and the Boys free on YouTube. Now it is building audience support by requiring people to join the Friends of the Fugard programme if they want to watch the screening.
Unfortunately, few theatres have a catalogue of filmed productions to fall back on, because filming live shows requires a huge budget, and nobody expected theatres to go dark.
Masterclasses on directing, writing and performance are being staged by the New York Theatre Workshop, with viewers asked to make a donation. They sound delightful, with a session on cabaret skills called “How To Grab Your Audience Without Even Touching Them”.
Johannesburg’s Market Theatre has recruited artists to record short videos at home to raise money and expand their reach. The clips available on its Facebook and Instagram accounts include actress Dorothy Ann Gould giving a monologue from Athol Fugard’s Hello and Goodbye, and a solo dance piece by Lulu Mlangeni.
Meanwhile, the National Arts Festival in June is being reconfigured as a virtual event, although details have yet to be announced and some theatricals would rather see it lie fallow than change its format.
Evans believes the lockdown will and should change how theatres operate. The digital world can attract larger audiences, and online events can exist in parallel to live performances, allowing actors to play in both. “There’s no point in going through all of this, then going back to normal once theatres are able to have live performances,” she says.
“There’s nothing wrong with being on Zoom on Wednesday and on stage on Thursday. I’ll probably always prefer live performances, but I can challenge myself to upskill and make online content and potentially build a worldwide audience.”