29-05-2025
Huge backlash after top theatre body floats plans to replace stage actors with AVATARS - as idea dismissed as 'naff' and 'cheap'
Theatres of the future may soon cast actors made not of flesh and blood, but of pixels and code.
But the plans - which have been promoted by the UK's leading theatre organisation for AI-generated avatars on stage - have been met with horror by actors and directors who fear the proposal would put hard-working thespians out of work.
At a Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre panel on Wednesday, leading industry figures floated the idea of 'virtual understudies' - digital avatars ready to step in when performers are absent, reducing costs and improving accessibility.
Claire Hodgson, co-artistic director of Diverse City, who was on the panel discussing the future of theatre, supported a hybrid future.
She said: 'I think by 2050 we will have live performers and avatars. I'm not particularly worried about this. It would be a massive benefit to put an avatar on stage for someone who wasn't able to perform that night because of pain, a condition or caring responsibilities.
'In subsidised theatres, where we don't have money for understudies, that would be a great thing.'
According to The Stage, Ms Hodgson suggested the digital thespians could appear 'on demand' and cut costs for cash-strapped theatres who struggle to pick up the bill for a troupe of actors.
It even raises the prospects of digital versions of A-list actors appearing at small regional theatres who could never afford to hire big names.
But not everyone's applauding the digital vision.
Director Suba Das, who was on the panel, said he was 'unconvinced' that an AI bot could replicate the work of real-life actors and noted the technological restraints at older venues.
Referencing the high-tech spectacle of ABBA Voyage, he said: 'Theatres are not set up in that way.'
ABBA Voyage uses holographic avatars in a specially built arena, which could be a model for future theatre directors who could use digitised projections on stage that would interact with real-life actors.
It comes as Kiss have launched their own virtual concert using computer-generated figures on stage and Donny Osmond is now performing alongside a CGI version of his 14-year-old self during his Las Vegas residency.
However, as Das said, 'the problem with that technology at the moment is that theatres are not set up in that way.'
It comes as Kiss have launched their own virtual concert using computer-generated figures on stage and Donny Osmond is now performing alongside a CGI version of his 14-year-old self during his Las Vegas residency
Critics outside the panel voiced stronger reservations and cited the Labour governments undermining of copyright protection from AI.
Carl Woodward, a theatre blogger and arts education consultant, told the Mail: 'Understudies, alternates and swings are the unsung heroes of the theatre industry. Replacing them with 'virtual avatars' is surreal. Live theatre is live - it's about people coming together in the same space.
'This isn't just about gimmicks; it's about the soul of a performance. The significance extends beyond the immediate effects because of the Labour government's move to relax copyright protections around A.I.
'Frankly, there are more important things for SOLT and UK Theatre to be discussing.'
Actor and ArtShield founder Edward Akrout, whose nonprofit supports art in crisis, dismissed the idea as 'naff' and 'cheap. He said: 'The whole concept of mixing live and not-live... it doesn't work. It's no longer theatre.
'I wouldn't go. The excitement of theatre is that you never know what might happen - someone might trip on their line, fall, enter at the wrong moment - and that's part of the magic. The moment it's pre-recorded, it's completely different.'
He called theatre 'the last bastion of the human experience', and questioned the cultural cost of replacing understudies: 'Understudying is a form of social elevation… You get your shot. That opportunity shouldn't be taken away.'
Kate Town, a panelist and director of Theatre Royal Wakefield, did however have hopes that artificial intelligence could help solve more pressing issues at the theatre.
She said: 'By 2050, I really hope we've found a technological way to not have a queue at the bar.'
