Stage Play: The Short And Long Of BBC'S Adaptation

Ren Ming / Wen

The six episode Mini drama stage, which is launched by BBC 1, tells the story of three drama workers who tried to rehearse the new play in the form of network conference during the period of epidemic isolation, but finally made no progress. This sounds like a denial of online communication, but in fact, the show shows cautiously and optimistically the possibilities of online meetings as a new space for interactive performance. Although the drama (3.8) and "Douban" are highly valued, both of them are of great value. It's a pity that the two leading roles in Judy's play 6 come to an end.

Each episode is 22 minutes long and is completed by the leading actors isolated at home during the outbreak of the epidemic through video chat software and "self portrait", respectively playing the "exaggerated version of self": the three main characters are Mike Sean and David Tennant who play "partners" (respectively as angels and demons) in the fantasy comedy "good omen" in 2019, as well as the screenwriter and playwright of stage play Simon Evans, the director of the film, appeared in person to play Simon, a "rookie" director who was preparing to re stage the classic drama "six roles in search of playwrights" by Italian writer pirandro (all the characters in the play use the actor's own name). He makes the inner drama and expression of an up and coming but anxious and insecure director very convincing, You can win the "best performance award" of the play.

The story is set like this: during the epidemic isolation period, Simon contacted his two leading actors in his new play, Mike and David, and hoped that they would spend two or three hours a day rehearsing online in the form of an online conference, so that when the theater reopened, their work could be put on immediately. Although they all thought it was a good idea, the three people were unable to enter the role for various reasons, and the rehearsal was delayed again and again. The main line is interspersed with the conflicts between Simon's sister and his fiance and mother-in-law in France, the relationship between Mike and David and their families, how Mike's neighbor, an old woman living alone, coerces Mike into running errands and shopping for him, Simon's relationship with producer Joe, Joe's relationship with assistant, and David and Mike's relationship with other actors who have worked with him. It is worth mentioning that the director's sister and the wives of the two leading actors are also cast by themselves; although they are not actors in the performing arts, they are not inferior to several leading actors in terms of their performance of "themselves" in front of the camera. The setting of "stage drama" provides space for the audience to further think about "the true meaning of performance" and the more possibilities provided by the Internet for interactive performance.

Whether it is photography or film and television works, the close-up of characters' faces always has great attraction and appeal to the audience. Therefore, the drama of the video chat interface is easy to understand: it is a human face directly opposite to the "audience". Most of the time, people regard chat software as a tool for communication and problem-solving, and do not assume that there is an "onlooker" audience. However, stage drama creatively puts "stage" in this new interactive space, revealing its creative possibilities. In order to arouse the audience's sympathy for the isolation experience during the epidemic, the first scene of the play shows David and Mike sitting in front of the computer, respectively. The background is the corner with colorful wallpaper and the traditional fireplace. Montage switches the lens to show that the two people's idle state has lasted for a period of time. "There must be a good word in Welsh to describe the end of the world." David gave him one hand, and suddenly he lost his head. Michael, leaning back on the back of his chair, sat up (he is a Welsh) and asked, "what do you say?" From this, they talked about Dylan Thomas's poem "don't walk into that good night gently" This beautiful and warm beginning seems to have been abandoned and destroyed out of the pursuit of drama.

The individual's boredom is juxtaposed, presented and alleviated through video software, and forms a kind of subtle drama. This may indeed be a drama stage that only happens between "dramatists" during the epidemic period: two people are in a daze in front of the camera, leave their seats to do other things, gaze at the birds outside the window, and imagine that one day the world will be occupied by them Fans all over the world are familiar with the stem in Hitchcock's "birds"; in the extreme boredom, he gives the writer the title of disrepute and disrespect: pirandrou is a fascist, Shakespeare is a greedy, affectable landlord; suffering from online classes and various family counseling, they begin to imagine the scene of sending their children to the street to be "raised" and compete to imitate Dickens' in《 The tragedy of vagrant children described in Oliver Twist, their sense of responsibility as fathers will increase a little bit at the moment when imitation stops abruptly.

There are also a variety of embarrassing aspects of video call: after being minimized, the video call lens can act as a terrifying invisible spy; when a person plucks up the courage to speak his heart, he is embarrassed when he is asked to "say it again" because of the poor network; when the first call is started, several people always speak at the same time

There are many possibilities that video conferencing software can bring to interactive performance. What makes the BBC's timely and impromptu work admirable is that it has the courage to practice, but does not act too hastily. This is probably both a strength and a weakness of British culture.

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