Cybersuite - Theatre Fantastique

THEATRE FANTASTIQUE

Cybersuite

ABOUT THE SHOW

"Cybersuite," the new creation of Theatre Fantastique, is a magical voyage into a virtual reality. lt is the story of an unusual relationship between Webster, a computer nerd, and Valerie, an immaterial creature who exists inside of a computer. How to meet this apparition? Webster tries everything to make her real.

Thus he enters into a virtual world created by a computer. The drama takes place on the stage and on a large screen. Webster tries to make a body for Valerie out of different materials: paper rips, foam rubber is too soft, colored lines do not have a third dimension, stones are inert, and metal is too cold. Despairing these failures, Webster comes back to reality. Between the two incompatible universes he decides to join her in her world.

This story was inspired by a myth from the Omaha Indians of North America. "All creatures, including man, were once thought swimming in space. They were searching for a place where they could come into existence. They tried the sun, but it was too hot. The moon was too cold. They came to earth but it was under water. One day an immense boulder broke the surface of the ocean and land was created. The spirits of vegetation descended, followed by the spirits of animals and finally that of men who made the transition to solidity and achieved bodily form."

"Cybersuite" continues the tradition of Theatre Fantastique in its use of truly fantastic costumes and the creation of new, imaginary worlds. Combining elements of mime, dance, marionettes and high tech costumery, the performers conjure up a unique visual and acoustic dimension. "Cybersuite" takes another step forward with the innovative mixture of technology and art.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY - REVIEWS

LA MONTAGNE
CLERMONT-FERRAND, FRANCE
JANUARY 26, 1996

VOYAGE TO THE CENTER OF THE VIRTUAL

Jules Verne imagined a voyage to the center of the earth, Theatre Fantastique proposes a voyage to the center of the computer. Monday evening the company of Theatre Fantastique plunged the spectators at the Municipal Theater into the magical world of virtual reality.

The stage is plunged into darkness and, suddenly, minuscule lamps light up, dance and come together. One is no longer totally in the real world. Then the lights form a life sized character, we are instilled in the virtual, a computer creature was just created .....

This is the story of the relationship between Webster, a computer nerd, and Valerie, an immaterial creature, the fruit of the imagination of man and technology. Webster wants to meet this apparition but to do so he must overcome the traps in a computer video game. Webster enters into the world of the virtual, he is on stage and on screen at the same time. Reality mixes with the virtual, we don't know if we are in the real world or cyberworld.

New technologies, original methods, the fantastic art does not forget the humor. Colorful characters dance and transform themselves, create music and sounds with their bodies: the children are captivated by this much artistic invention.

And while the public is entertained by the virtuosity of the actors, Webster continually searches for his virtual promise...for nothing. He realizes that the two universes are incompatible, and thus he chooses to meet his love in the cyberworld.

Between the light ballets and the intoxicating music "Cybersuite" makes us think about the world of the future. Will we be obliged, like Webster, to go into a virtual world?

The show will be performed again Tuesday in the Municipal Theater.

OUEST FRANCE
Thursday, February 22, 1996

"A Virtual in-between World"

Tuesday and Wednesday the theatre in Alencon, France welcomed the show"CYBERSUITE" by the company Theatre Frantastique directed by Richard Zachary.

"CYBERSUITE" tells the love story between Webster, a computer nerd, and Valerie, an interstellar creature created in a computer program.

Richard Zachary is not unknown to the public in Aleneon who appreciated the show "MATRIX" a few months ago. Using the latest technologies Richard Zachary is able to satisfy the follies of the imagination and his passion for virtual worlds and computer images.

"It's SUPER and it's not scary" whispered the children fascinated by the title lights that dance around in the dark and then come together to form a body made of light in a stunning effect. Then a giant screen displays the computer commands. Through the use of cameras the hero, Webster, is able to go into the screen display and play with the light...Then Webster plays with the computer images on his screen .... the forms come to life...and Valerie springs from the cosmos.

If at time the staging reminds us of Philippe Genty it is, nevertheless, very original.

Here is a show for young audiences that is just a well suited for adults. A true performance of the possibilities of the computer. The imagination is really well served.

MARSEILLAISE
Friday, March 22, 1996

'CYBERSUITE: WELCOME TO THE HUMAN MACHINE"

"It's amazing! As they were playing on the computer you heard "Letter to Elise" and I recognized the melody from "E.T." (Actually from 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind') .... One of the teachers said, "it's crazy what they can do with a few pieces of fluorescent plastic glued onto their bodies" ...... Comments after an unusual class yesterday afternoon when some of the classes from the local schools discovered "CYBERSUITE" by Richard Zachary of Theatre Fantastique.

It's hard to tell who were the most enthusiastic spectators of this story about Webster, a computer nerd who falls in love with Valerie, whom the computer refers to as a virus, and wants to make her real. It contained a classical "happy end" by the creators of Theatre Fantastique, even though one of the teachers remarked "They are united in death... An important work, full of inventions and tricks that come from the technology of the third millennium."

All of these special effects had a magical charm on those who were privileged to attend the show and the magic developed by these artists was a hit, even if it was difficult at times to split one's attention between the computer programs projected on the screen and the work of the actors. If this re-creation was such a hit it's because it was able to touch and hold the respect of a young audience ages 7 - 15, which is a feat in itself. And, one cannot help strongly advising those who have a certain fear or suspicion of the "king" computer to come and play with those who conceived this unusual program

It is a work without words, filled with meaning and symbols, also with humor and illusions that was just recently created. It is a work impossible to categorize as it uses elements of circus, mime, music, computers, design, collage, and scribbling that slowly plunge the spectator into another universe where mankind must pilot his destiny behind the wheel of a computer.

Stephane Revel

LA MONTAIGNE - MONTLUCON, FRANCE
FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 1996

"CYBERSUITE" - REALLY BEAUTIFUL

What is important in a show that unites theatre and the latest technologies? Richard Zachary, the director of "Cybersuite", gives his opinion tonight at the Athanor Theater: "To serve the poetry, always."

Technological evolution, ironically, can be a powerful producer of outmoded antiques. Will the different forms of theater, which are human par excellence, finish under a dust protective shroud? This is not the intention of Richard Zachary in provoking five years before the 21st century the encounter of traditional theater and virtual imagery. His show, "Cybersuite", given Friday night at the Athanor Theater is not only addressed to a young audience.

For this third creation of Theatre Fantastique the director was inspired by a myth of the Omaha Indians, according to whom all creatures were originally spirits floating in space looking for a place to materialize.

The Sculptural Beauty Of The Virtual
Webster, a computer nerd, was playing electronic chess with his friend Giles when he fell in love with a virtual woman who appeared during the game. She was a virus in his computer, Oscar. The computer will permit them to meet if Webster can overcome a series of traps in the video game. The Valerie will try to materialize as a creature of stone, paper, and finally metal.

After three bitter failures Webster decides to abandon his material body and to become a character made of "pixels" in order to be with his "beautiful, virtual love".

A Happy Game Over
Like Woody Allen, Richard Zachary is a great romantic and a comedian...tripled with a passion for computers. The actor-mimes: Bruno Denecker, Alicia Serra, Jean-Pierre Guiner and Olivier Schram, talented manipulators of objects in shadows and lights, always masked and full of midi triggers, skillfully alternate their dances with those of their virtual alter-egos on the giant screen.

It's romantic because Cybersuite is a love story, ordinary and extraordinary, like all love stories. The "Game Over" is a kind of American "Happy End". The humor is omnipresent, but Richard Zachary also has a critical look at the new technologies he used to create his show. "The virtual cyberspace is not only the domain of scientists. "Cybersuite is not an intellectual avant-garde show but rather an entertaining one. The only essential question is to awaken human sensitivity, albeit with the most modern tools, but always to serve the poetry.

Nevertheless there are a lot of things to think about...This human Webster, whose adventure we follow through a fantastic decor and who only communicates via his keyboard...this virtual creature who is endowed with feelings and the ability to speak....and this good-natured computer who becomes desperately jealous.

-LB

LE MAINE
ALENCON, FRANCE
FEBRUARY 27, 1996

THE MAGIC IN VIRTUAL REALITY

Last Wednesday a large crowd of children saw the new creation of Theatre Fantastique, "Cybersuite. A unique magical voyage between technology and theater. Marvelous moments on stage between a dream and the fantastic! Richard Zachary, the director, has signed a new work. ,

In a version specially adapted for children the "play" is watched with as much amazement by adults.

The story is inspired by a myth of the Omaha Indians of North America. Revised, it tells the story of a computer nerd, Webster, and an immaterial creation of the computer...the stage is black...all of a sudden little stars dance on stage, multiply and finish by forming the body of a woman: Valerie, a virus introduced into the heart of the computer.

A giant screen upstage shows the image of Webster who is really on stage. Dressed all in white and wearing a mask, he taps on the keyboard and the computer responds...followed by lots of situations using this formidable electronic construction.

The colors and forms change continually during the show. Webster finishes by finding the formula to enter into the computer in order to join his beloved Valerie. Alone in the back of the theater Richard Zachary watches and takes notes, undoubtedly to perfect this show, which is already magnificent. Discreet and polite, he simply says thank you when congratulated. Along with all his team, a man to keep a close eye on.

ON THE USE OF COMPUTERS IN CYBERSUITE

One of the hall marks of THEATRE FANTASTIQUE since its' creation in 1983 has been the use of the latest technologies in theatrical performance. The starting point for Cybersuite was the challenge of integrating computers with live action and actors Why try to use computers on stage? Ultimately our goal is to create a wonderful theatrical experience. Traditionally all kinds of means have been used in the theatre: make-up, costumes, decor, stage machinery, not to forget the highly trained actors. These tools are used to create an illusion, magic, or new reality. Computers are another tool to be used, a tool that opens doors to incredible possibilities and makebelieve worlds.

Computers are used in three ways in Cybersuite:: (1) To create a kind of Virtual Reality, (2) to create computer images, animations and video sequences, and (3) to create "Virtual Music".

In the Virtual Reality sequences THEATRE FANTASTIQUE uses a system called the "Mandala" that was designed by the Vivid Group in Toronto, Canada. The actor is filmed by a camera and his image is digitalized in real time and entered into the computer. "Digitalizing" means changing the image into bits of information that the computer can understand and work with. Now the actor can interact with and become part of the computer generated world. All of this happens in real time on the stage before the spectators who see two things: the actor moving around in empty space, and at the same time on the projection screen, the actor moving and interacting inside a synthetic world created totally with a computer. The actor touches and plays with objects that exist only in the computer and on the stage projection screen. (This is, however, only one part of the show - it's not used continually.) All of the "Mandala" scenes are programmed by the company.

The second use of computers in Cybersuite is for the creation of the computer animations and video sequences that are projected during the show. Once again these are all created and programmed by members of the company. It is only in the last few years that computer equipment and programs have evolved to the point where a small theatrical company, and not a television or movie production house, could afford to be using them and as a result be creating 3-D animations, non linear montages, etc.

The third use of computers is for specific application in one of he sequences of the show in order to create "virtual" music. ln this sequence there are two clowns that wear costumes that are equipped with MIDI triggers and a MIDI interface. MIDI stands for "musical instrument digital interface". It is a protocol of communication that is used by all electronic musical instruments of all manufacturers. The triggers are basically tiny switches that react to pressure and vibration when touched, tapped, etc. by the actors. They send a signal to a MIDI interface that converts the pressure into a MIDI signal that is then sent via a wireless system to the computer. The computer, in turn, tells the synthesizer what note or sound to produce. The key to this is that the actor is actually creating the music - by tapping on his body - just as a pianist creates the music when he presses on the keys of a piano. The computer allows us to change, instantaneously, the instrument or sound that is produced.

While the use of computers opens the doors to amazing possibilities, at times it can seem like opening Pandora's box. After figuring out what kind of computers and programs to buy we have been faced with many obstacles. Learning how to use them and configuring them correctly has taken many months. There have been many sleepless nights when the right cable was missing - or incorrectly hooked up. We have not been immune to bugs and viruses. This can truly be like fighting phantoms. If something breaks down on an electronic level it's basically back to the factory. And when everything works we are continually amazed at what can be produced with a "machine" and how it gives us the freedom to tell stories in ways that have not been possible up until now.

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