Theater Reviews + Features | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh City Paper: Watching Recoil — a new play about gun violence from the University of Pittsburgh Theatre Arts Department — got me thinking about how artists have addressed that topic over the past few decades. Specifically, I remembered Elephant, Gus Van Sant’s hyper-realistic fictional retelling of the Columbine school shooting, and how uncomfortable it made me. The film was supposed to be disturbing, but it wasn’t only the violence. There’s just something gross about dramatizing a school shooting that left me desperate for a shower and wondering what exactly the film was trying to accomplish. Did Van Sant think the horror of Columbine eluded the general public? Does it really need underlining?
2 comments:
Though this article is highly biased towards the authors own pre-conceived notions on gun violence, I think it definitely provides perspective on how a show like this can affect various different audiences members in man different ways. I have friends who lean into this type of theatre, calling it relevant an highly important to make theatre about, then I have friends that think this is highly offensive, which is a very valid opinion. In this day and age, the way we handle gun violence and mass shootings is by talking about it, so I can see why this show would be performed, but I can't say the same about other shows about mass shootings. Some of the shows that analyze the shooters mental health and mindset are the ones that usually become offensive because I don't think that there is any way of really knowing how that unless it was written by the shooter themselves. After reading this article, I urge playwrights to lean in, but think about the consequences, and understand that no matter what someone may get offended.
This is the second article I’ve read about the presence of gun violence as a topic in theatre. It seems as though each show the critic has reviewed that contains gun violence has received extremely mixed reactions. I also feel trepidation in attempting to tackle whether or not this theme should be put in front of an audience onstage-- I do truly believe that theatre is one of the most crucial vehicles to discuss and confront some of the ugliest parts of our world, but I also worry about how the theatricality of reenacting very serious horrors have the potential to become so dramatized that they turn into a spectacle. I don’t have a concrete answer about how to approach gun violence onstage with tact. However, I also don’t necessarily think that we should shy away from topics in theatre because they are difficult. Obviously, a serious trigger warning would be necessary for these shows beforehand as well as very clear information and facts about the events the show is reenacting.
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