Resumen de Me and My Shadow
The term ‘visual literacy’ has only been in use since around 1970. Its logical opposite, ‘visual illiteracy,’ however, was discussed by the ancient Greeks, specifically by Plato in his Republic (c. 380 BC.) Using what some call the allegory of The Cave, Plato demonstrates that the slaves, who are chained to their seats, are misinterpreting the shadows that they see on the cave wall through ignorance. My stage play, Outside/In , uses Plato’s metaphor, substituting a large plasma screen for the shadows on the wall to suggest that while technology has advanced in the millennia since Plato, humankind continues to misinterpret images, now chained to their comfortable armchairs by complacency. The ‘slaves’ in Outside/In are so engrossed in the world that television has created, that they hardly have time to welcome the returning escapee, let alone absorb what he has to teach about the world outside. The play satirises ‘reality’ television programmes, slanted news reporting and the credulity of modern television audiences. Using humour, I imply that without improved visual literacy Orwell’s ‘Big Brother’ will not need to be a Stalinesque dictator ruling through rigid adherence to his oppressive laws, but rather that he may simply be an avuncular figure able to persuade people that these laws are ‘for their own good.’ Much has already been written about visual literacy in the media of the fine arts, architecture, film and television, but scant attention has been paid to its role in the theatre. This chapter intends to show that through set and costume design and the use of a screen onstage as more than just symbols or visual furniture, live theatre can provide a worthy contribution to the advancement of visual literacy.
