Zooming in on virtual theater

Online theater grew out of the pandemic and seems set to outlast it. Hong Kong’s theater professionals tell Elaine Wong about the challenges of adapting to the new medium and finding creative solutions to deal with them.

Although performance venues in Hong Kong opened up again this month, online streaming of recorded and live shows continues. Online platforms such as Zoom, initially in high demand for creating a virtual space to host work meetings and teach classes, are now an established, and accepted, medium of bringing live performances to audiences at home. Like elsewhere in the world, Hong Kong's theater practitioners are testing the creative potential of online theater, even as they try to overcome the challenges posed by the new medium.

Technical issues

"Not everyone is ready to watch theater using Zoom," says Kristina Pakhomova, founder of KrisP. Production and the producer of Water Child, a play which premiered on Zoom in August. "(They) just don't trust the quality of such a format."

Audiences are wary about the technical issues that might arise during livestreaming. These can be anything from harmless intrusions — like audience members inadvertently joining a session, having forgotten to switch off their cameras — to unstable network connections leading to delays and poor sound quality.

However, directors are trying to find creative ways to work round such technical challenges. For example, Davina Lee Carrete, founder of Treasure Chest Theatre, who recently directed The Intervention on Zoom, asked her actors to follow the Meisner Technique — an acting approach developed by the American thespian Sanford Meisner (1905-97). "I asked the cast to notice everything — lags, strange noises and all," says Carrete. "Although our play was scripted, I allowed the actors to improvise in case something went wrong."