Will Virtual Kill the Real?...

This post is copied from a website questioning whether Virtual Plays Kill the Real Theatre?

When talking about watching plays on the Internet they argue.......

"Except, of course, the thing they will be reacting to will not be theatre, but an electronic imitation of it. The virtual audience might well declare the show a classic or a flop, as Duffy suggests, but their assessment can only be deeply flawed. What makes theatre special, the more so in this era of DVDs, computers and TV, is that it is not pre-recorded or mediated, it is there in front of us. Not only does it have three dimensions, but it also has presence. You can smell it. And on a good night, you can taste the sweat.

I've never seen a recording of a theatre performance that is not flat and lifeless. The rules, the rhythm and the spontaneity of a live event are meaningless on the small screen. Call me a Luddite, but the Second Life musical is not the future of theatre. By giving a distorted impression of what theatre is like, however, could it actually damage its real-world equivalent?"

The site for this is: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/theatre/2007/08/will_virtual_plays_kill_real_t.html