Theatre designUsing digital technology

The new role of video designer has become increasingly common in the last few years and is an emerging trend in theatre design. As technology has become cheaper and more accessible, theatre companies large and small are using video design to great acclaim. For example, Knifedge design company's digital set for its production of Sunday in the Park with George, which featured a Seurat painting coming to life, won it an Olivier Award in 2007.

National Theatre Wales' production, The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning, was live-streamed globally online and also included a live comment stream to which the audience were encouraged to contribute. The site was free to view and available live during all stage performances. National Theatre Wales calls this ‘hyper-connected theatre’ and it’s becoming ever more popular.

However, there are critics of the use of digital technology in theatre productions who complain that this experimentation is distracting and should be left to the cinema. But many are in favour of embracing the new technology and it will certainly become even more popular in the next few years.

If you decide to use video projection or technology in your production, it's important to remember that if the rest of the production isn't strong, the audience won't be satisfied by sophisticated digital technology alone. Story and characters must come first. The technology is there to enhance and complement the production, not to overpower or upstage it.