I suspect that I am not alone out here, equating the theater with hives these days. The situation has become so anxiety-inducing that I have turned jittery and become ever vigilant — even as I write this in an office cubicle, I half-expect a cheerful actor waiting around the corner, eager to steer me by the elbow toward a stage.
2 comments:
Audience participation is usually one of those rare occurrences that you may see once in every ten shows you go to see. Like the writer of this article I agree that it seems to be becoming more and more common these days. I personally think it is fine that this is happening. Audience participation can be a great part of a show if used correctly. Personally I would never want to be brought up on stage to take part in whatever it may be, I would rather be backstage. That said, I think it is perfectly fine for the industry to continue using the tool of audience participation as long as we remember different people have different levels of shyness. If a production decides to have audience participation I think that it must be sure the audience member participating is a volunteer and not someone who is being pressured into taking part. That could end badly in a lot of different ways probably including some legal. That said I think as long as this one simple rule is followed there is no harm in a little more audience participation here and there.
Interactive theatre has always intrigued me because of the thin line between “fun” and “mortifying” that it frequently dances on. When I was young, my parents would take me to children’s performances from time to time and they frequently required someone to come onstage with an actor. As a more timid child, I never raised my hand, I never jumped up and shouted “Me! Me! Me!” and that was all just fine by me. One night, my parents took me to a performance of “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.” For the life of me I can’t even remember the context of why they needed a volunteer, but sure enough, they asked for one. However, tonight was different. There was no jumping or yelling from the other kids, and I remember sitting in a front row seat, right in front of the lead actor. Cringing, I felt a dozen eyes shift to me, and then I watched, horrified, as the lead came up to me and led me to the stage. My “job” as a volunteer was to dance to some music with him and a couple of the other actors, and I did, but after that I refused to go to the theatre with my parents again. Looking back on it, it’s silly how mortified I was, but thinking about if that happened now, I can still completely agree with the testimonials in the article, as I would be just as embarrassed as I was as a child.
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