The theatre endures as a refreshing dramatic encounter where there are no screens. Our dramatic lives are dominated by screens - movies, TV, video games. Theatre is a refuge from the daily barrage of pixels. This is the theatere's great appeal, seeing the sweat on the actors' faces, the risk of mistakes, the noise of stagehands scrambling in the dark between scenes; it's real; it's dramatic.

But the screen is creeping it's way in to the theatre as well. One of the most famous pioneers of technology in the theatre is Robert Lepage. For years now his theatre company Ex Machina has pioneered the use of technology in theatre productions and operas. Lepage's newest work, Blue Dragon, is currently playing in Vancouver - part of the cultural olympiad.

This was the third production of Lepage's that I've seen, The Anderson Project and The Damnation of Faust the others. What's apparent from Lepage's productions is his desire to push and prod the boundaries of technology in live performance. It's clear though, that he's pushing the limits not from a technical perspective but rather from an experiential perspective. It feels like he's constantly asking how much technology can we use before we distract from the experience. For the creation of experience is the one and only goal.

In Blue Dragon Lepage employs many of the same techniques as in the other productions, multiple levels on the stage, moving backgrounds, drawing on screens. In reflecting on the use of technology in this production,  Lepage successfully negotiates the risk of gimmicks but in some areas falls victim to the risk of distraction, a distraction from the experience - from the drama.

The most effective uses of technology in the play were with monologues. When Pierre Lamontagne, the main character played by Lepage, explains to the audience his Chinese name and with a massive calligraphy brush paints the characters on the screen or when Pierre explained why he has a dragon tattooed on his back while a video of the tattoo being applied was projected behind him.

Otherwise, when the action between two characters was the focus the various screens felt like a distraction. In one scene a young woman, Lamontagne's ex-lover and at one time an aspiring artist, is painting the same Van Goh over and over in a copyist shop. The images magically appear on a series of 'canvasas' behind her. The focus in that scene was the suffering of the woman, her downfall, her struggles but the audience 'ooooed' when the images appeared not when she yelled in emotional torment.

One left the play wishing that they had put some of the energy spent on the technology into the plot and the acting.

This is all a good lesson for creators with technology. The goal is always creating an  experience. Whether it's designing a website or a video game or an installation the technology is only a means to experience, a key to unlocking emotion or productivity or usefulness.

With our industry projects there's always a desire to try new things, add cool features, push the technology. But often those features become distractions both in production and in experience.

The most compelling effect in Blue Dragon was a scene where two characters were standing in the snow. The stage underneath their feet was covered in a white sheet that wrinkled under their steps just like snow. That was the most subtle, simple, analog effect of the night but, for me, the strongest experience.