Immersive Telepresence: A framework for training and rehearsal in a postdigital age

This paper will examine how telepresence technologies are repurposed to enable student performers to rehearse and train over distances. The discussion will revolve around a variety of telepresence technologies/web-based applications repurposed to investigate actor training, rehearsal, education and performance. In the Immersive Telepresence in Theatre project, two identical spaces, linked by H.323 videoconferencing technology, were created in Tampere (Finland) and Coventry (UK), each with rear projection screens giving the participants the impression of a shared space. The project used existing pedagogical practices but re-applied them to a digital setting with the teaching and rehearsal process only slightly modified to account for the technological aspects of working in this manner. This project, which began in 2016 with Coriolanus Online, has since conducted further collaborations examining rehearsal and performance between Tampere, Coventry, Helsinki University of the Arts, Gothenburg Theatre Academy, Adam Mickiewicz University (Poznań) and Purdue University (USA). As well as the examination of the traditional rehearsal process through these collaborations, there is also the social aspect which promotes teamwork and builds relationships between the student groups. A range of supporting applications were used to create digital ‘social spaces’ – Facebook for scheduling
and rapid sharing of visual materials from rehearsals and web conferencing software, Adobe Connect, was used to provide contextual lectures, individualised rehearsal rooms for the participants and breakout spaces for the students to develop ideas and socialise away independently of the tutor led sessions.