Think Tank | Big Think: In 1968 Peter Brook wrote:
In New York, potentially, there is one of the best audiences in the world. Unfortunately, it seldom goes to the theatre. It seldom goes to the theatre because the the prices are too high. Certainly it can afford these prices, but it has been let down too often.
Brook was 43 at the time. A visionary director of stage and screen, he was growing too “experimental” for the classical Shakespeare company in which he’d done much of his groundbreaking early work. Soon he would found the International Center for Theater Research, seeking a raw, immediate theatrical language in which to express universal human themes.
44 years later, as Brook’s luminous production of Can Themba’s The Suit plays at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the economic situation of New York theater hasn’t much changed. Aside from Chicago, New York may be the most theatergoing town in America. Yet the small percentage of New Yorkers who ever attend a play fall mainly into two camps: the once-a-year Broadway tourists and the friends of actors, playwrights, or directors.
4 comments:
The statement this article makes about the artist's connection with his audience is very accurate and powerful. I think the reason that theater is such an important art form is because it enables the audience to communicate their response to the artists. This is rarely a possibility, and allows one to connect with an artist on a visceral, instant level, based on the relation between both their responses to the art piece.
I've been very interested in the work of Peter Brook lately, so I really liked this article, especially his quote at the beginning. I can't tell you how many actors I know don't see a show because they either can't afford it or are certain it won't be good.
I read The Empty Space before coming to college and I have to say I found it dry and a little hard to get through. But now I think if I went back and reread it I would find more value in what Mr. Brook has to say, especially if he is promoting things like what I read in this article. I really do agree with what the author has to say about the audience becoming a single responsive unit that can relate to the action onstage in ways they can not exactly relate to films and movies, predominant example being breaking the fourth wall, as Mr. Brook did. I hope I get to experience a successful break of the fourth wall.
I think this article also speaks to several other articles posted on the green page this week. There are multiple articles about the new shows coming to Broadway and the decline of others. Personally, I believe that it is all due to the rising prices of theatre tickets in NY and the resulting decline in audience attendance. Producers are backing (relatively) sure-things that are pretty much guaranteed to make some money. I think this article makes a great and hugely relevant point about the "point" of theatre: it is one of the few art forms that can induce empathy, and the decline of accessible, affordable theatre is a huge detriment to society.
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