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Wednesday, September 09, 2020
The play’s not the thing, the theatre is: returning to live performance is like returning to humanity
Theatre | The Guardian: The last time I went to the theatre, I knew I wouldn’t be back for a while. It was mid-March, the final Sunday of Adelaide’s festivals; the government was “advising against” gatherings of more than 500 people from Monday.
6 comments:
Elizabeth P
said...
I can only speak from my own experience but we’ve been living in these weird little habitats and so being able to see something REAL (which in this case just means something new and different that has been absent from your life for so long) is almost startling. I haven’t been to live theater in a really long time, but I recently went to my first in-person class since we went remote last spring, and there was something about the energy and the “realness” of the people around me. There wasn’t the lag and censoring of Zoom that I am now so used to. While I am all for getting things open again, just this article mentioning how warnings were not adhered to makes me very nervous. We all want to be able to go back out and see our friends and not have to worry that we might be transmitting a disease, but we don’t get there by ignoring warnings and opening prematurely. I also would like to know the production side’s methods for keeping performers safe - because if they plan to take care of their patron’s well-being I would hope that actors are getting that same courtesy.
I had not really been able to place it before but THIS is what live video theater is so desperately missing. It is everything that comes along with going to a live performance. Things that logging into your computer will never be able to capture. The feeling of the crowd, the excitement of being in a crowd, or the rush to the bathroom at intermission. This is why I feel like the work we are seeing now just fundamentally is not theater. It is valid and good in its own right, but it is not theater. It is something new that still has a lot of kinks to be worked out. Being in America right now, I find it crazy to think of anyone going to a theater with 700 other people today, but I guess in other parts of the world things really are way more under control. I can not wait to be able to see live theater in person again and not fear for my life at the same time.
This is the first article that I've read I felt truly resonated with the reasons why I miss in person theater. I have read so many articles about performance on Zoom and how it is a decent replacement. But theater isn't about the show itself as the article preaches, yet about the community experience, witnessing art with people, being around with people. As an audience member, there is nothing as exciting as being with people as the lights dim and noise ceases as the actors take their places. As a theater maker, there is nothing as exciting as hearing and seeing the audience interacting with the play. Theater is truly unique because of this interaction without it it is just a poorly made movie. I am anxiously awaiting the days when live theater can happen once again safely.
I definitely miss this community. I miss laughing and working alongside my friends and other artists that I hold so much admiration and respect for. I definitely miss feeling the collective energy of a crowd during a performance. So much of the intimacy of day-to-day life is based in physical and emotional connections with those around us, strangers or not. Being in a collaborative community makes this even moreso. I feel so constricted. But I am trying not to bog myself down into this too much, because like, there is quite literally no way to amend it right now. Patience and taking personal protective measures are all I can do. I am eager for the day the United States pulls its shit together and finally can return to a world relatively similar to what we saw before. I am happy to see that other countries have begun to find alternatives to continue experiencing forms of art. I think it will take a long time before a lot of us are no longer anxious with these situations, but maybe someday we’ll get there.
Reading this article was the first time that I really mentally put myself back into what it was like to be in a theatre as an audience member. Personally, I could listen to an orchestra tune for hours. The swell of the violins as the theatre begins to get darker has always been tHE moment for me. I remember hearing it during the first show I stage managed on opening night, and, in that moment, I knew I could live in a theatre forever. Outside of that, I have had a lot of moments throughout COVID in which it has truly struck me how integrated my life is with theatre. It is the home of my closest connections, some of my most profound memories, and just the space where I get to laugh and enjoy myself. It is frustrating that theatre and live entertainment folks will be the last ones to return after all of this. A lot of people who aren’t a part of this world aren’t taking it as seriously because they see the length of time that the isolation for them is a lot less significant, and their work is a lot more financially stable than theatre tends to be. I so look forward to being able to return to it all.
Theatre to me is special because of it’s in person connection, and this article really helped me remember that. Yes, it has been fantastic to have theatre be able to resume in some capacity and have people work in some sort of fashion, but it still doesn’t compare to the live experience of theatre. The connection that our collective art form brings people is together, to enjoy the live creation of that art form together. The statement “Performance is about shared space: with the performers, but also with the audience.” really resonated with me because of the truth behind it. We go to theatres as audiences and performers alike to share in the emotion and connection on stage. This is the exact reason why dress rehearsals will never compare to the live thing, because with every breath and sigh and laugh of the audience member, the performer is fueled. I know that for the time being theatrical performances are going to have to continue in some virtual sense, but I am looking forward to the day when we can all enjoy our craft together again.
6 comments:
I can only speak from my own experience but we’ve been living in these weird little habitats and so being able to see something REAL (which in this case just means something new and different that has been absent from your life for so long) is almost startling. I haven’t been to live theater in a really long time, but I recently went to my first in-person class since we went remote last spring, and there was something about the energy and the “realness” of the people around me. There wasn’t the lag and censoring of Zoom that I am now so used to. While I am all for getting things open again, just this article mentioning how warnings were not adhered to makes me very nervous. We all want to be able to go back out and see our friends and not have to worry that we might be transmitting a disease, but we don’t get there by ignoring warnings and opening prematurely. I also would like to know the production side’s methods for keeping performers safe - because if they plan to take care of their patron’s well-being I would hope that actors are getting that same courtesy.
I had not really been able to place it before but THIS is what live video theater is so desperately missing. It is everything that comes along with going to a live performance. Things that logging into your computer will never be able to capture. The feeling of the crowd, the excitement of being in a crowd, or the rush to the bathroom at intermission. This is why I feel like the work we are seeing now just fundamentally is not theater. It is valid and good in its own right, but it is not theater. It is something new that still has a lot of kinks to be worked out. Being in America right now, I find it crazy to think of anyone going to a theater with 700 other people today, but I guess in other parts of the world things really are way more under control. I can not wait to be able to see live theater in person again and not fear for my life at the same time.
This is the first article that I've read I felt truly resonated with the reasons why I miss in person theater. I have read so many articles about performance on Zoom and how it is a decent replacement. But theater isn't about the show itself as the article preaches, yet about the community experience, witnessing art with people, being around with people. As an audience member, there is nothing as exciting as being with people as the lights dim and noise ceases as the actors take their places. As a theater maker, there is nothing as exciting as hearing and seeing the audience interacting with the play. Theater is truly unique because of this interaction without it it is just a poorly made movie. I am anxiously awaiting the days when live theater can happen once again safely.
I definitely miss this community. I miss laughing and working alongside my friends and other artists that I hold so much admiration and respect for. I definitely miss feeling the collective energy of a crowd during a performance. So much of the intimacy of day-to-day life is based in physical and emotional connections with those around us, strangers or not. Being in a collaborative community makes this even moreso. I feel so constricted. But I am trying not to bog myself down into this too much, because like, there is quite literally no way to amend it right now. Patience and taking personal protective measures are all I can do. I am eager for the day the United States pulls its shit together and finally can return to a world relatively similar to what we saw before. I am happy to see that other countries have begun to find alternatives to continue experiencing forms of art. I think it will take a long time before a lot of us are no longer anxious with these situations, but maybe someday we’ll get there.
Reading this article was the first time that I really mentally put myself back into what it was like to be in a theatre as an audience member. Personally, I could listen to an orchestra tune for hours. The swell of the violins as the theatre begins to get darker has always been tHE moment for me. I remember hearing it during the first show I stage managed on opening night, and, in that moment, I knew I could live in a theatre forever. Outside of that, I have had a lot of moments throughout COVID in which it has truly struck me how integrated my life is with theatre. It is the home of my closest connections, some of my most profound memories, and just the space where I get to laugh and enjoy myself. It is frustrating that theatre and live entertainment folks will be the last ones to return after all of this. A lot of people who aren’t a part of this world aren’t taking it as seriously because they see the length of time that the isolation for them is a lot less significant, and their work is a lot more financially stable than theatre tends to be. I so look forward to being able to return to it all.
Theatre to me is special because of it’s in person connection, and this article really helped me remember that. Yes, it has been fantastic to have theatre be able to resume in some capacity and have people work in some sort of fashion, but it still doesn’t compare to the live experience of theatre. The connection that our collective art form brings people is together, to enjoy the live creation of that art form together. The statement “Performance is about shared space: with the performers, but also with the audience.” really resonated with me because of the truth behind it. We go to theatres as audiences and performers alike to share in the emotion and connection on stage. This is the exact reason why dress rehearsals will never compare to the live thing, because with every breath and sigh and laugh of the audience member, the performer is fueled. I know that for the time being theatrical performances are going to have to continue in some virtual sense, but I am looking forward to the day when we can all enjoy our craft together again.
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