Classics Alive Like Yesterday | AI vs. the Classics

The Teatr Institute invites you on March 16 at 6:00 PM to the meeting “AI vs. the Classics” as part of the debate series “Classics Alive Like Yesterday”. Admission is free; reservations required at bilety@instytut-teatralny.pl.

• Krzysztof Garbaczewski
• Jan Klata
• Karol Nepelski
• dr hab. Jacek Wasilewski

Host: Monika Pilch.

In recent years the topic of the digital transformation of the stage has regularly returned in scholarly and public analyses, appearing on panels at academic conferences and theatre festivals in Poland and abroad. New technologies are becoming one of the main drivers of contemporary theatre’s development. Industry studies most often point to several key areas of transformation:

• use of VR and AR to build immersive audience experiences
• development of online streaming and hybrid participation models
• application of artificial intelligence in dramaturgical and scenographic processes
• use of digital scenography and mapping as an alternative to traditional stage space

Practical examples are confirmed in scientific research. The interdisciplinary collective Blast Theory has long experimented with combining performance, mobile technologies and virtual environments, examining the impact of interactivity on audience perception. Meanwhile, a Royal Shakespeare Company project carried out in cooperation with Intel (the 2016 production of “The Tempest”) has become the subject of media studies analyses as an example of using motion capture technology to reinterpret a classical drama. Researchers emphasize that digital tools not only expand the aesthetics of the stage but also change the relationship between actor, space and spectator, shifting the emphasis from representation to experience.

Technological transformation is no longer a prediction – it is a reality that is transforming the way productions are made, promoted and received. Theatre now operates simultaneously in physical and digital spaces, and the boundaries between them are gradually blurring. The theatre industry faces a strategic choice: how to integrate new tools consciously so that they strengthen artistic expression without reducing it to a technological effect?

The debate will also address the topic of artistic education and preparing young creators to work in an environment where digital competencies become as important as acting or directing craft. Education programs increasingly include elements of designing interactive spaces, working with visualization software or basics of collaboration with technology teams.

Does technology redefine theatre, or merely broaden its expressive tools? To what extent do new media modify the classical canon of dramas – do they lead to deconstruction of texts, or enable new readings and analyses? These are some of the questions we will try to answer during the debate.