Thursday, December 01, 2011
‘Never Sleep Alone’ Leads to Audience Relationships
NYTimes.com: Usually when a couple say they met in the theater, they mean they were in the cast or on the stage crew together. Patrons who venture to the show at Joe’s Pub on Thursday night may find themselves constituting a different class entirely: audience members who were more or less ordered to couple up by the performer.
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4 comments:
This is too weird. I don't know how I feel about this.....or how I would feel as an audience member. Probably uncomfortable. It's also strange that audience members made the effort to make contact after the performance. I understand that this is an intimate showing and that many personal details can be revealed in such a setting- but it is still strange to me that there are people with such deep loneliness, and that believe they can feel such passionate feelings during a performance, are beginning these interpersonal relationships with one another. On another note, I also believe that it is not my place to judge others for the way they go about things - so if it making everyone happy then why stop despite the strangeness?
I think I must agree with Kassondra on this one, and not just because she's a prophet.
I am all for complete audience participation. It's always better to give the actors your energy so that they in turn can give it back in their performance. I even agree that participating in something uncomfortable or bizarre or out of your comfort zone is important both for the actors onstage to continue with the piece and for you, as an audience member, to get the most out of the experience. So, in that sense, Never Sleep Alone sounds fine.
What weirds me out is that people are thinking the performance is real. The end of the article quotes someone as saying, " ' “I guess I didn’t realize to the degree Ros realized that there are people who wanted this event to be real, and that they therefore treat it as a real event, and that it therefore becomes real.' " That's what scares me. That people are so desperate (for love, sex, attention, a hookup, a connection, etc.) that they're using this as a way to get that. It just freaks me out. I mean, you wouldn't go to a production of The Music Man and then afterwards try to join the band formed during the play, would you? Maybe that's not the best example, but I still think its dangerous to confuse actors with the roles they play. This might not be the most dangerous piece to do that with, but its not a good precedent to set.
However, also like Kassondra, I strongly feel that my beliefs, especially in terms of sex, shouldn't be forced upon other people. So, to those that actually hooked up after seeing this, congratulations on getting some.
I am in a mostly full agreement on this as well. You cannot deny the awkwardness that such an event entails- of course being paired with a stranger with a set of expectations is strange beyond belief!! But nowadays- nothing is too strange, we have progressed from speed dating to "dining in the dark" and now to this. So, with this sentiment- I find that there is nothing wrong with this form of dating. Why the heck not? As freaky as this sounds- I'm sure there are a number of people who would find this fun enough to over-ride the bazaar nature of this event.
I wonder what problems this may bring up for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. It is interesting that random hook-ups are being encouraged, and so I can only hope that safe sex practices are also discussed and recommended. Besides this, I have no problem with the ways people want to get together. It could be really great for people with few inhibitions who want to meet others with few inhibitions, so maybe this isn't a very strange dating method after all! I don't necessarily think this reflects a loneliness on people, but perhaps just single people who enjoy a fun time and happened to take a chance on the person they met who had similar opinions on what they find fun.
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