Friday, May 01, 2020
Drink From The Well of Yourself: “Play In Your Bathtub” as Quarantine Comfort Theatre
The Theatre Times: Individual tastes notwithstanding, it can be argued that the best theatre is that which connects us to our own humanity and lived experience. Though the COVID-19 outbreak, and ensuing mass quarantine, has curtailed our options for public performance, this collective drawing-inward has proved unexpectedly fertile ground for artistry, inspiring new means of creative expression and prompting us to delve deeper into our inner worlds for inspiration and strength.
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I really like this idea of having a production from anyone's own bathtub. Zoom or any other method of recorded productions that are going around are interesting to get a live reading of a production, however, all of the experience is taken away. The way this article makes it sounds is as if this is a follow along meditation or asmr kind of interactive experience, and I really vibe with this. I wish I had a bathtub so I could enjoy this experience as well. I also really like how they give you a “prop list” of things to have so all of the audience can have a similar experience. In the times of corona that we are now, it also kind of makes sense to do things from a bathtub because everyone is panicking, rightfully so, over constantly washing your hands and being clean, so a bath is very fitting.
This is such a great idea, and the subject matter makes it even better. Despite the bath top theme, I think that this would be cool in other contexts as well. I am thinking about our Imaginarium right now because a few of our groups did guided experiences. One group, Lunar Odyssey, presented their piece from the perspective of the audience member. I feel like this bath tub piece has the same structure. That said, this concept is really great as a whole. I think that self-care is important now more than ever, and this guided meditation not only puts people in a state of relaxation. It probably makes people feel like they’re doing something purposeful in quarantine, the same way ending your day with an outing to the theater gives a day a purpose. Not only are people relaxing and taking care of themselves, but they are partaking in a defined entertainment activity.
The first line of this article really grabbed my attention. It made me think about how I want to be living during my quarantine. I think that this is a great time to reconnect with our sense of self, and I think this form of theater is a great way of working towards that goal. Finding self fulfillment can be a difficult thing, especially for a sustained time (like a 2 month quarantine for example), so taking time to participate in something that facilitates that activity in a playful way is really powerful. I also want to mention that this is such a cool idea and though this whole situation has had such a strain on our entire way of being, I think that ideas like this one prove that quite a bit of good can come out of this. It is sometimes said that necessity drives innovation, and many of the things I've seen created during this quarantine have proved that to me.
This is a lot of fun. I think there's a lot of pressure to be the "perfect theatre-goer" at this time. There's all of these livestreams and events that we feel like we need to watch and talk to our friends about, but this is something that can just be for you and I really love that! I also love guided meditation so much, so it makes sense for me to love this idea. I just think there's something about using your imagination for your personal well-being that is so cool and reminds you how powerful your mind is. And, because this is only audio and your personal bathtub, there's a lot of individuality to this experience, which I think is really cool. Having a nice relaxing bath and enjoying some theatre at the same time seems to be the perfect resource for the world right now and it's just a wonderful idea. Also, they're doing it through a traditional ticket-sale website, which makes me happy because, for a moment, you can pretend you're buying tickets to a non-quarantined, in-person show!
Theatre from your bathtub? Yes please. I think this is such a fun and creative idea, especially making it physically immersive by requiring the audience to sit in their bathtubs and draw a bath of some kind. I think this is the closest thing to making the listeners and audience feel as though they are all in the same place at once, just life in a typical theatre audience. Knowing that everyone listening to this show has the same props and scenery as you do makes it feel like you’re an audience member and is really comforting in a way. One of my favorite ways to relax is to have a bath, light a candle, and watch a movie so I think this is an idea that a lot of people would be attracted to and would want to try. Also just listening to an audio recording can make the content at hand so much more effective since you’re forced to focus on just the language instead of any visuals being shown, so I feel like it’ll make people feel really relaxed and present.
Wow! This is a great idea! I love the idea of having a nice relaxing bath and listening to a guided meditation like play. This is really inventive and it really brings the audience into the space because the play is telling them what they should be doing. The idea of giving the audience a prop list is really fun as well. This way everyone who listens is having a similar experience and is really becoming part of the world they are creating. Also, I think we could all use to have more self care days with everything going on these days anyway! This pandemic has definitely forced theaters to come up with very creative solutions to get their work to an audience but this is definitely one of the better ideas I have heard! A nice relaxing bath with this guided meditation style play is definitely worth trying sometime!
Recently, I’ve been thinking about the fairness in remote education. When students are on campus, they are provided with about the same kinds of facilities, environment, information and opportunities. Each might carry different private issues related to family, finance, illness, or etc. in the life outside of school, but they are all treated the same while they are on campus. However, online courses cannot ensure students’ daily “school” life. If that makes sense. The reason why this article reminded me of this is because I thought being in the theatre is similar to being on campus. Once audience pays a certain amount of money, obviously there are some good seats and ok seats but, they are all allowed to enter the environment and receive the same information. Theatre is open to interpretation. Therefore, fairness and equality might not be the subject to debate in the first place. But, I just wanted to clear out what aspects of theatre in my mind made me think “Play In Your Bathtub” is a bit strange, while I of course do think it is a wonderful idea.
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