Tiyuk's Second Life Adventures

[This is a guest blog post as the result of the Blogger's Mix and Match challenge. It is written by Peter Stindberg of Second Stindberg - the topic got suggested by Young Geffrion of Tempietto.]

"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players;"
(As You Like It Act 2, scene 7)

At first glance, Second Life seems like any thespians dream: a world, completely shapeable and sculptable, props and actors defying gravity, sets only limited by the stage architects imagination. If you can think of it, you can recreate it within Second Life. Fire breathing dragons for Siegfried, Prospero's wind ghost, the balcony where Juliet waits for her Romeo. The dull plain where Estragon and Vladimir wait for Godot. The claustrophobic town of Güllen where Claire Zachanassian demands the execution of her former lover in exchange for half a million Swiss Frank in Dürrenmatts "The Visit". The possibilities seem as endless as the plays - be they modern or old. No costume too extravagnt, no idea too far fetched. Your world, your imagination!

A producer's dream however might turn into a nightmare once you take a closer look. Apart from the text of the play, the presence of the actors is part of the magic of a performence. However facial expressions are cumbersome at best (read: horrible), movements difficult to orchestrate and never spontaneous, and seeing the typing animation when Hamlet writes "to be or not to be" would be rather funny.
To voice or not to voice is the question, and poses another bunch of technical issues. Prim counts and rezzing issues, animation synchronisations, texture loading delays, attachment rezzing and sudden crashes are another issue. Not to mention lag, and the poor performance of a sim with many avatars in - one of the reasons why SL's larges theatre company chose the intersection of 4 sims to build their theatre on - one sim for the stage and actors, 3 sim corners to hold the audience.
Finally spontaneity, the one thing that seperates a theatre production from a movie, and possibly the thing that translates worst into SL. Voice actors might miss a line, slip a word - but prerecorded animations still take place, and the ability of a fellow actor to re-act spontaneously is more than limited.
In one word: even though the possibilities seem unlimited, the technical and logistical aspect of a theatre production are more challenging than their RL counterparts.

The major SL theatre company is probably the SL Shakespeare Company, founded by Ina Centaur.

"The SL Shakespeare Company’s task over the next few years is to bring to Second Life live productions of all of the bard’s plays. To do so, we will be integrating some esoteric cutting-edge technology with the best of theatrical talent."

For the time being, the SL Shakespeare Company plays shorter pieces and excerpts. Their mid-term goal is to make a live, full length production of Hamlet. The amount of work involved in such a production is tremendous. Basically up to the skins of the actors all parts are made by the company themslves.

Ina was not availbale for an interview due to time constraints, unfortunately the two people she named as "liking interviews" never got back to me neither by notecard, IM or email. I personally have never attended one of the productions due to timezone issued - the next play to which I am actually invited will be one day after this post is... well... posted.

A personal note towards the end. Even though this assignment-topic was not exactly what I hoped for, and even though the research proved to be rather frustrating, it has opened my eyes for yet another aspect of Second Life. This world is so rich, and there are so many people living and fulfilling their dreams in ways they could not in the atomic world. I will certainly try to see a theatre production soon, and I hope some of the readers will too.

Thank you, and thank you Tiyuk for giving me the room here!

"Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep."
(The Tempest Act 4, scene 1)