Grumelot & Escuela Nave 73: Defying Traditional Stage Presence Through Digital Media

Abstract

As COVID-19 brought significant changes to the art industry, it forced creators to re-invent the way they collaborate and produce their work. Within Hispanic Classical Theater, these unforeseen circumstances led playwrights, directors, and performers to seek new ideas and venues of dissemination that may change the course of Spanish comedia productions for years to come. However, the proliferation of these digital productions raises several questions: How can multimedia outlets be used effectively to capture the audience’s attention and engage them in the same way as traditional theater? How can they create a sense of intimacy and recreate the perception of being present in the absence of the in-person theatrical experience? In order to answer these questions and to understand how these challenges can be overcome, this article examines the multimedia play Y es mayor dolor la ausencia que la muerte (Grumelot and Escuela Nave 73). A digital and interactive show that attempts to overcome the limitations imposed by digital broadcasting and implements social presence elements that allow the performers to create a sense of connectedness with the audience.

Keywords:

• Social presence
• devising
• digital theater
• multimedia plays
• Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
• Hispanic Classical Theater
• Spanish comedia
• Theater Studies

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 This virtual space is still available through the Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CompNacTeatroClasico

2 This conference was co-organized by myself and Erin Cowling, with the assistance of freelance performing arts curator & producer Lorenzo Papagallo, in July 2020. It was organized for members of the Association of Hispanic Classical Theatre and sponsored by the Festival Internacional de Teatro Clásico de Almagro. Our initiative came precisely from the need to continue fomenting Hispanic Classical Theatre and help artists promote their work during the pandemic. We invited over 14 artists and had three digital performances and several workshops. We also created a “Corral Digital,”' within the conference’s private platform. It included links to digital plays and interviews from international artists. We organized it again in 2021, with Esther Fernández as co-organizer and Vice President of the AHCT conference.

3 LA Escena: Diversifying the classics aims to promote Hispanic Classical Theatre to diverse audiences through theatre related projects, such as: translations, adaptations, performances, and talks, among others. It is directed by Barbara Fuchs (UCLA).

4 As a side note, the number 12 is very relevant to the entire show. Sor Juana’s birthday is the 12th of November (1648), there are 12 actresses, and the play starts at midnight at a time when Madrid had a curfew.

5 I would like to thank Carlota Gaviño, Iara Solano and Iñigo Rodríguez for their time and for responding to my questions about their creative process through two interviews (22 March 2021 and 9 July 2021). These conversations gave me a fascinating insight and understanding of their work.

6 See Barbara Fuch’s thorough review of Game Over. Fuchs notes that Gumelot “expand[s] the limits of digital theatre beyond the merely remedial. A profound exploration of storytelling across platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and Spotify, Game Over suggests what theatre might look like in a multi-modal future.”

7 I would like to point out that the experimentation with multimedia platforms in Spanish Golden Age- related performances was already happening in use before the pandemic. For example, the Spanish company Teatro Inverso used WhatsApp in their piece Wonders, to communicate with the audience before and after the spectacle. This piece was a free adaptation of Cervantes’ El retablo de las maravillas. Before the show, the audience posted a question intended to be responded to by Cervantes via WhatsApp. The response was a fragment of one of his texts that was suitable for each individual question.