Monday, October 27, 2008
Broadway lacks room for today's situation
Los Angeles Times: "With the signs and symptoms of capitalism's advanced-stage decadence all around us -- you can't turn on the TV without being bombarded by pharmaceutical commercials featuring randy oldsters -- it seems rather fussy, in a John Houseman kind of way, to complain about the weak tea being served by contemporary playwrights. But as Wall Street's hangover headache looks like it might actually be a brain tumor, it's hard for a theater critic to accept that one of the last places you'd turn for biting social commentary on our recessionary reality is the stage."
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5 comments:
"No one is asking for squalor and shabby curtains, but it's time to admit that the socioeconomic spectrum has been embarrassingly limited. Tragedy, in its pre-modern guises, dealt pretty much exclusively with the high-born, but this is retrograde to a fault." Honestly, I do not thinkthat this comment is fully justified in the way it presents itself. In all actuality this situation for America to present itself to the public in a Broadway theme is not really a touchy subject. At the moment we are deciding weather or not Assassins would be a good show for our up coming season. We have to take into consideration the presidential election coming up. This is something that is extremely impactful and how would we deal with the show?
I think more what they are saying is that our ideas of tragedy and theatre in general need to change because our country is changing so much. maybe i am misunderstanding, but it seems that what they are saying is that a tragedy today is more about willy loman than hamlet. however, i believe this change has already been made, seeing that willy loman was created many years ago.
There is something to be said for theatre that mimicks the lives of their audience, but what are audiences going to see these days? Many theater goers I know want fantasy and spectacle in order to get away from their boring lives. People today want to turn their brains off by watching television or by cranking up the volume on their ipod. The same can be said for theatre. Until general audiences are clamoring for realistic sets and economy quips, I doubt the spectacle side of theatre will change. Sure, budgets might change but the overall "Broadway" bells and whistles won't.
I still think that theater today should our issues now. I think that addressing the moral and social problems of today is what theater is meant to do. Now is a particularly good time for plays with a message and tone.
This author makes a good point. Current theatrical works should reflect the social and economical situation of the country, but the theatrical world should not rely on Broadway to produce these works. If a playwright develops a piece about the current national situation it will most likely be produced on a much smaller scale. The risks of production a politically controversial piece are too great for Broadway producers. So if audiences are looking for socially and economically charged work they should be looking in their own communities. Regional theaters and smaller theatre companies are much more likely to provide the kind of work this author is looking for. Broadway is not the end all and be all for theatrical work.
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