Theatre Development Fund – TDF: "I wasn't a very playful child," admits Jonathan Matthews, the co-writer/performer of the dance-theatre piece Play!. As a toddler, he didn't make believe with stuffed animals or action figures because he sensed they had their own feelings and he didn't want to interfere. As a schoolboy, he didn't participate in games with his friends during recess; instead "we just talked about episodes of TV shows we watched." He stopped playing basketball after grade school because "I decided I hated it."
6 comments:
This article has two main concepts that I want to touch on here, first the idea of immersive theatre and second is the concept of 'play'. It doesn't surprise me that these immersive experiences are taking off nowadays. Years ago, live theatre held a large portion of the storytelling market, yet that has fallen off since the dawn of movies, TV, and other forms of media. One of the main reasons people go to see live performance is for that human connection and interaction that you just can't replicate on a screen. So, more and more, we see these interactions creeping into the audience through these immersive experiences. The second part of the article focuses on the idea of 'play' (in the non-theatrical type, although it is a curious homonym). Playing is certainly essential to our survival and development as the article points out. It isn't even uniquely human, all animals use play in various ways, whether it is to teach their young or just for the sake of playing. This combination of immersive theatre and playing is certainly something I could see developing over the next few years.
I love the idea of this production. I totally agree with Johnathan Matthews: play is so important as an adult. I understand that adults are supposed to go to work and do adult things but this concept for a theatrical piece is awesome. I also love This is Not a Theatre Company. They’re work is so innovative when it comes to small scale immersive theatre. I remember doing viewpoints during sophomore year. Having the opportunity to be in a class that was designed to show us what the actors do while also opening ourselves up to a new form of artistic and creative expression was eye-opening. This thirty minute dance, lecture, physical and emotional journey that Matthews takes the audience on seems incredible and gratifying. We’re so stuck in the black and white social truths and stigmas that invade our everyday lives. A show like this provides a moment of freedom: of play. I love that.
This idea is super cool. The article states that people should play for 10 minutes each day and that certainly is awesome. This is funny because theater people tend to be more playful than your average person. Something about what theater is attracts playful people and it teaches people to be playful. As kids, we like to play as things we are not, and as an actor, you get to be what you are not. Designers get to create something that is not what it seems like. We as a society teach people to stop playing and to be serious all the time, but that's not the best for anyone. If you can play at your work, you're going to have a better time and be more productive. I'd love to see a piece like this and that would be awesome to do something like that here. I’m glad that this profession has room to be act like a kid and play. I’ve discovered that as I’ve gotten older I’ve gone from toy power tools to real power tools.
Theatre in the Dark reminded me of Dialogue in the Dark, a unique museum I visited back in Vienna, Austria. Dialogue in the Dark is a museum where visitors are guided by blind guides in absolute darkness to experience daily environments like crossing a road or having a cup of coffee at a café. The main purpose of the museum is to raise awareness towards diversity. In contrast to the movement of designing the society for the disabled, I believe theatricals works are becoming more universally designed, as the definition of the theatre became wider. Theatre in the Dark: Carpe Diem, for example, can be experienced by any people. Moreover, I think a role of the stage manager is the key to make theatre diverse, especially in the works that expect audience’s participation to explore diversity. As Sophia Cohen Smith, the stage manager, mentions in the video, how the audience interact with the work becomes more important and calling cues will be affected by that. All of the theatrical work does not necessarily be universally designed, however, I think being open for anyone is crucial to keep theatre alive in modern society.
I think the idea of immersive theatre is wonderful and something often not fully explored. The concept of “play” being so integral to both adults in their everyday life as well as to children (in a foundational sense). Play, of course, does not necessarily mean playing a sport or with dolls or dressing up, but refers instead to freeing, creative activities. Part of what I find so interesting is the way that Play! is set up: Matthews performs a sort of “rhetorical preamble” for the beginning of the show but, to its creators, the actual piece is the blind dance party at the end. Another thing that this article and the show bring to relevance is the accessibility of immersive theatre and its effect on those with atypical sensory experiences (like low vision/blind people as well as those with developmental conditions).
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