Friday, November 16, 2007
Bombing site is stage for drama
Variety: "It was the most unlikely setting for a performance of street theater but also the most poignant -- the deeply scarred site of a massive car bombing early this year on Baghdad's Mutanabi Street that killed 30 people. The hourlong performance Nov. 8 by the National Folklore Ensemble broughtthe silent reverence and a top-level coterie of theatergoers to the bustling street in central Baghdad, lined with bookstores, libraries and cafes before it was devastated by the March bombing."
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8 comments:
This production really brings together the idea of a production existing in a specific time and place for a specific purpose. At school we are always asking, 'why produce this play today?' This production so vividly illustrates that that a successful and unique experience can come about when the answers to those essential questions have urgency within a society.
This is a beautiful idea. i love that the chosen art medium to draw attention to this was theatrical performance. the tie between the literary world and the theatre one are really brought together to make a statement about this tragedy.
How many people are guilty of not doing something of fear for the reaction and effect it will bring? I know I am one of them.
Which is why I salute the people who want to put up this performance, even when there is the fear of bomb attacks once again.
One of the most wonderful things about theatre is it can be about anything, does not have to be in a theatre, does not need to have huge budgets, and still have the same great effect if it achieves in making audience think and feel = experience, bmight even bring one another together in times of tragedy even
I love things like this, like the Laramy Project, but I agree that they are no longer relevant when performed outside of it's original guise. In situations like this it can be a form of healing and coping with fear.
i think this production will also really aid in the audience's understanding of what went on in that spot. so many times i go to places where historical and significant events occurred and i have trouble really feeling the impact. i don't think this audience will have that problem.
"Why this play now." is perfectly answered by this performance. I can imagine that the performance had a major impact on it audience if not just for the play and site, but also everyone of the very diverse people who watched. It must have been very awe inspiring to be walking down the street and there set up in at a recently bombed site is a performance with poets and dignitaries alike.
As everyone previously stated, this definitely answers a very common question we see here in the school of drama. It also serves as a reminder of the importance of what we can do, but only if we choose to make it so. Reading the title of this article, I was a little skeptical because sometimes things like this can bring more dishonor than anything else to a site of such tragedy. But I think this was a lovely idea both as a tribute and means of communication. An interesting way of thinking of theater.
wow. everyone has already said what I really wanted to. but this really is a great example of theatre trying to stand for something to bring a much needed change. so often we do the fluffy easy pieces, the easy-money pieces, the pieces that are just an interesting new challenge, but hardly ever does it seem like Theater is done as a direct in your face response to an event with the sole purpose of the possibility of change. It so often is an underscoring of a change we want to see instead of the demand to see it. I wonder why that is.
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