Innovating Shakespeare: The Politics of Technological Partnership in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Tempest (2016)

Abstract

This article examines the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) recent focus on digital ‘innovation’ by analysing the relationship between their emerging digital-focused business practices and digital performance practice for The Tempest (2016). To assess this relationship, I first review the socioeconomic context of 21st century neoliberal UK economic policy that encourages arts organisations such as the RSC to participate in innovative digital production practices. I follow with a definition and deconstruction of ‘innovation’ as a key term in UK economic policy. I then demonstrate how the RSC has strategically become involved in innovation practices throughout the 2010s. I will then analyse the digital, motion-capture performance practices the RSC developed in partnership with Intel and motion-capture studio The Imaginarium for The Tempest. In doing so, I will demonstrate that The Tempest serves to legitimise the RSC’s status as a competitor and collaborator in the wider digital economy.

Performing Capture in Video Games and New Acting Practice in the Post-Digital Era

“…Возможности ИИ примеряются к различным областям социально-экономической сферы, в том числе к различным формам искусства и развлекательным технологиям. Летом 2023 года в США зашли в тупик переговоры объединенного профсоюза артистов Гильдии киноактеров и Американской федерации артистов телевидения и радио (SAG-AFTRA) с Гильдией кинопродюсеров, что может стать причиной масштабной забастовки 1 . Одним из главных пунктов требований стало ограничение привлечения в кинокартины технологий искусственного интеллекта при работе с изображениями актерских работ прошлого и замены ими работы живых артистов.…”

“…Intel acted as a sponsor of the mocap technology of the performance, noting in its press release that the group of creators-people of the theater and technologists-had managed to achieve interaction between digital avatars and live artists in real-time after a year of research. To correspond to the spontaneity of live theater, the "avatar" was modeled using 336 joint sensors, that capture the movements of all human body joints, "and is powered by a PC that has 50-million times more memory than the one that put man on the moon" (Borsuk, 2019).…”

“…In the summer of 2023 in the USA, negotiations between the united trade union of artists of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) with the Guild of Film Producers reached a deadlock, which lead to a large-scale strike. 1 One of the main points of the demands was to limit the involvement of artificial intelligence technologies in films when working with images of actors' works from the past and replacing the work of live artists with these reconfigured older imagings. While AI is currently only able to successfully replace extras and deceased stars, the film community is already expressing concern about this and is striving to prevent sharp antagonism of professional interests in the industry in the foreseeable future.…”

Physical to Digital to Physical: Capturing human performances for multidisciplinary theatre visualisation

“…An example of motion capture being used in a very visible way in theatre is the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of The Tempest (Borsuk 2019). For the role of Ariel, performed by Mark Quartley, the costume incorporated an inertial motion capture suit called X-sense which allowed him to perform offstage and be recreated as a digital double, projected onto the scenery but also to perform as a live actor and digital double simultaneously in front of the audience.…”