Digital theatre is here to stay

HOW can theatre carry on in the age of social distancing? Since physical stages went dark in April, some Singapore practitioners have arrived at successful digital solutions, while others appear to be biding their time till theatres reopen.

The most adaptable theatre-makers are the ones used to creating original works. They've quickly reformulated their scripts to stage them virtually and incorporate Zoom, Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram elements to engage the audience technologically.

Meanwhile, practitioners who are used to taking popular Broadway or West End scripts, and then staging them for a Singapore audience - more often than not achieving much more commercial success than original Singapore works - have been much slower to adapt. After all, there are very few scripts in the global market that are written for the digital stage - theatre was always meant to be experienced live.