ABSTRACT
In 2009 NT Live used digital technology to begin streaming live National Theatre performances to cinemas, first in Britain but soon all over the globe, and other companies quickly followed suit. The same year Digital Theatre launched, making digitally recorded performances from many companies available to download either for rent or outright purchase, and their operation became increasingly sophisticated. Even such a brief account fails to distinguish between spectators and participants, for in effect the category ‘audience’ had dissolved and those attending surely needed a new characterisation. Virtual reality always had the potential to become actual in a way denied to the live theatre, and however obviously simulated an internet environment might be, physical action and interaction around it remained ‘real’. The most consistent exploration of digital technology was made by the company Blast Theory, whose collaborations with the Mixed Reality Laboratory at the University of Nottingham produced work which was often more like an internet game than a play.
