On Broadway, ticket costs for celebrity-led shows seem to rise proportionally to how much you get to see said celebrity. And this isn’t about time onstage — it’s about area onstage.
Nicole Scherzinger’s vengeful, bloody face was blown up on a nearly 25-foot-tall LED screen in “Sunset Boulevard.” George Clooney’s anti-communist television broadcast was projected on a back wall in “Good Night, and Good Luck.” Sarah Snook’s hedonistic selfies were split across five hanging video displays in “The Picture of Dorian Grey.”
It’s crucial to look at past works to understand Broadway’s high-tech expansion. The Wooster Group, an experimental theater company producing avant-garde takes on classic texts since 1975, is the best place to start. Led by visionary director Elizabeth LeCompte, they barraged New York audiences with distorted sound and lots of screens well before it became a Broadway trend.
In “Brace Up!,” their adaptation of renowned playwright Anton Chekov’s “Three Sisters,” video displays littered the set. Actors appeared as both flesh onstage and pixels onscreen, and with the group’s longtime star Kate Valk as a detached narrator, The Wooster Group captured Chekhov’s world of alienation while championing his vision of new forms in the theater.
William Shakespeare was another target. This adaptation of “Hamlet” featured live actors mimicking a video of a 1964 filmed version of the same play, which played in the background. Scott Shephard’s performance as the titular prince transforms into a rabbit hole of imitation: He mirrors the dispositions projected behind him just as Hamlet puts on an “antic disposition” to bait his uncle.
But the production that truly encapsulates the group’s theatrical thesis is “House/Lights,” an odd-couple fusion of Gertrude Stein’s opera libretto “Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights” and the 1964 B movie “Olga’s House of Shame.” LeCompte plays around with these two tales of demonic bargains, assisted by a mechanical set and cybernetic sound interjections. Valk is sensational, effortlessly sliding between multiple characters and manipulating her onscreen image. With her high-pitched voice and the way she seductively sits on a swivel chair, Valk appears eerily inhuman, a representation of mankind fractured by technology.
In “House/Lights,” the similarities to today’s mega-screen theaters are undeniable. The show inspired this year’s run of “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” which also uses technology to split its lead actress across various characters — proving The Wooster Group’s undeniable influence.
“Brace Up!,” “Hamlet” and “House/Lights” are available to stream on Kanopy.
Off the Radar is a monthly column surveying overlooked films and shows available to students for free via NYU’s streaming partnerships.
Contact Ethan Li at [email protected].
