New York Times: "A group of men stormed the stage during a performance in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, of “Wasati Bila Wasatiya” (“A Moderate Without Moderation”), a play critical of religious conservatives, Reuters reported, citing Saudi newspapers and Web sites."
5 comments:
Not to sound harsh, but why would you do this? Why would you put on a play in this day and age, in that part of the world, with that subject matter. I understand that all theater at one point was dangerous and without the arts society would never progress, but sometimes you just have to but safety first. In a nation where movies are edited to take out kisses and the religious extremist are more then ready to die for thier beliefs and take other with them, wouldn't you assume that maybe they should travel to a safer place to perform, or perform underground?
OUA!So many stuffs we can talk from this news. Simply thinking it from theatre side.
1. Security control at the entrace at back stage and at lobby.
2.Can the doors to the audience be locked when the show starts?
In some theatre (ex: Opera House /Garnier in Paris), they lock the doors.
3. Does the Presenter should seriously consider and sort their performance regarding to the taboo for their local culture?
4.TINA~ in such emergency case, what does SM should do?
Bring down the Fire Wall at proscenium ?!
5. CREWS~ hold your letherman, wrench and hammer tightly to protect yourself!
If there is a reason that it is dangerous to perform a specific type of play, isn't that the exact reason why it should be performed? If, as artists, we are here to change the world in which we live by enlightening people through the stage, we must not go after the little safer problems, but rather the dangerous ones to make the most amount of difference.
~Boyce
I think the difficulty everyone is arguing is finding the balance between a play that challenges a society and a play that endangers a society. I think it is good to intellectually spark and perhaps even offend a community by challenging their ideals, practicies and traditions. However, in a hostile society where these public expressions are met with extreme violence there may be a better, safer way to make the same statement. I don't think it is worth endangering the lives of an acting troupe or staff to "give it to the man" if it can be done in a different medium or in a different location and still get the same mentality across. There's a balance between crying out for change and putting innocent people in harm's way and theater often flirts to closely with this line as the article demonstrates. --Maddie Regan
I strongly disagree with Julie, and think it is more than important to produce more than Suessical. Theater can produce some of the most controversial artistic work, and that is just the kind of work I hope to be a part of. To say, it would be safer to do something else, somewhere else is true, but would then not be serving those people who most desperately need it
-Kim Allen-Poole
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