CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, January 31, 2017

The Art of Live Performance

sightlines.usitt.org: There’s a long list of productions I wish I had had the chance to see in the past year. Yes, Hamilton, but so many more are out there too.

Two in particular have my mind because of the influence of the design on the production. One I mentioned a few months ago, the Seattle Opera production of Hansel and Gretel. The other is the New York Theatre Workshop production of Othello. These are two vastly differently productions. One, a huge production in grand scale. The other, intimate and close up. Each featured incredible casting and master works of their genre. But the designs, those were what made me really want to see those shows.

1 comment:

Emily Lawrence said...

I think that live performance is what of the most difficult things to accomplish well. There are so many factors that could change something every night and the actors/technicians would simply have to be as fast on their feet as possible. Unlike film where you can edit a scene till it looks exactly how you want it to or where you have multiple takes, the minute the curtain opens there is no going back and changing what happens. Live performers have to be ready to give it their all every night and be prepared to deal with accidents if they happen. I also think that live performance is a thousand times better than movies, due to how personal every show can be. The audience is not just staring at a screen watching something that will never change, but they are watching live people dealing with real live issues right in front of their eyes. There is something so much more personal about this even if the theatre holds hundreds of people. I also thing that live performance is more exciting, because it is something you get to do every night and if you make a mistake you get the chance to fix it the next night. There is something beautiful, and way more challenging, to doing a show live in front of an audience every night.