Thursday, January 21, 2010
Tyler Perry kids around with fans during 'Madea' play
Los Angeles Times: "Attending a Tyler Perry play is unlike any experience in mainstream theater. The actor-writer-director has an established fan base and seems to thrive on audience connection. If this means frequently breaking character, then so be it."
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5 comments:
I personally have never been the biggest fan of Tyler Perry's work. I mean I have sound some of his movies funny I guess but I think I started to feel with all the Madea does this and Madea does that spin offs, I felt it was just trying to hard. Almost llike Ernest does this and Ernest does that. But upon reading this article I get a different feel for his work. I enjoy that he breaks the fourth wall and talks to his audience or at least calls them out, Or that he can make himself laugh at his own antics. It was also really touching how when in recently talking to his audience after the show, he spoke about his mother and her passing. The fact that he wanted to make a play instead of a movie made it more personal or something for me. It was nice to see a different side of Tyler Perry through this article
I've also never been a huge fan of Tyler Perry's work either but I think its really interesting that he's the type of writer, director, actor that specializes in what he knows. After all most of his pool of work consists of movies and plays about the emotional relationship struggles of African Americans and he really truly and sincerely portrays the modern Black American culture really well. Some might say that a lot of his characters may fall into stereotypes of African Americans but I disagree, I think he is presenting a softer and more dimensional side in his work that is really eye opening. I also think its great that he talks to his audience after shows, he's servicing the Black Community so much not only by giving them representation in the entertainment industry but kind of bringing light to a strong subculture that has a lot of beauty.
There seems to be a pattern here, but historically, I'm not a Tyler Perry fan. I generally just don't find him all that funny when he's an actor. Some of his TV I've found entertaining at points, but as a whole I'm just not a real fan. Now, what has always bugged me the most about his career is his character Madea, so the idea that a play exists that furthers this character's presence in entertainment history is while annoying, also a little disappointing. While there are plenty of deep movies, I generally think of Perry movies that have featured Madea to be more aimed at those who are going to watch something like the Scary Movie series. Nothing wrong with them, they just have a love for dumb humor. I guess I never really thought of people willing to shell out more then eight bucks to watch a two hour performance of something to be a group that enjoys this kind of humor.
Going along with whatwas previously stated....I am not a huge Tyler Perry fan. I mean, I feel that his work is witty and new, but overall, I have never really been a fan of his work. But this production might change my ideas of him. I am a big fan of immersive theater and audience interaction. I feel the interaction is something that allows the people in the audience to get a deeper understanding of the work. I also think the witty interaction forces people to pay attention to the smaller nuiances in the piece.
Despite the comments of my fellow colleagues, I have always appreciated Tyler Perry's work, although I may not participate in rejoicing about him all the time. I think that there is a great opportunity here for an audience that doesn't usually get pitched to in our regular cycle of theatre. Although I may not think his work is brilliant all the time, it gets people into the theatre and those people are just as important as you and I are in terms of artistic implementation. There are many ways to skin a cat, and this is one of the ways I would never choose myself, but it's still a way. Especially in the realm of theatre, when you think about African American influences most people jump to Tennessee Williams or August Wilson, but even those works are primarily pitched to a more sophisticated audience than that of Perry's. This is not to say that it's on the same level artistically, but I think they have the same value in terms of uniting a community and speaking to them through artistic expression.
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