limelightmagazine.com.au: The performing arts are an ephemeral thing. As we discovered during lockdown, though livestreams and recordings are fabulous things, nothing – nothing – compares to being in a room with a performer, breathing the same air, feeling the vibrations from their bodies, their voices, their instruments.
But when you can’t take that feeling home with you, what remains as a souvenir? Photos, posters, costumes, cultural artefacts and talismans that forever retain a shadow of the thing they commemorate.
5 comments:
This is a really interesting idea for a display. The idea that the posters and pictures of the plays that we are working on now could be around centuries from now, and serve as an example of the world of theatre in our time is a crazy thought. We keep using the phrase "living through history" these days and it is a phrase that so many people are so tired of hearing, but it is completely true. So far in the future from now people will be looking at our playbill collections and our signed show posters to get a feel of what the theatre industry was like in the 2020's. I love the idea that we in turn look back now at the industry all those years ago and see the similarities and differences to what we are doing today. Living and working in an industry with so much rich history is absolutely amazing and I wish that I could see this exhibit to soak it all in.
I so strongly agree with the introduction of this article; a critical part of what makes theater so unique and extraordinary is the live element of that space, the shared cathartic experience that is unable to be replicated anywhere else. This idea of an exhibition that specifically focuses on putting artifacts and pieces from productions on display is actually a pretty interesting idea. As said above, capturing the essence of a live theater performance is pretty much impossible. But things that can remind viewers of the feelings of excitement and emotion they were able to experience during the shows, like posters and show props and costumes, is a fairly good way to commemorate the soul of such productions. I particularly liked what Dr. Susannah Helman, the exhibit organizer and curator, said about “capturing the key moments of key productions”; trying to emulate an entire show through a few small pieces is impossible, and frankly not needed. Highlighting the most standout moments is much more realistic and better as an exhibition.
In love thinking about the value that physical objects have in our psyche and how they can compel us to do certain things or illicit deep memories from our past. As a scenic designer, I often observe what types of object as are given this deep value and what objects are deemed useless after they are used . For me as a child, I always loved taking home the ticket snubs of any shows I would go see. This was a nice little artifact because I would always be able to remember the date of the performance, where it was and other details of the event on the ticket stub. The article covers a very interesting topic of trying to recreate the action of a live performance through some sort of collection of objects, display or exhibition. I feel that although this is very interesting and can illicit memories from this who were there in person, it cannot recreate the event in history that is a theatre performance. I feel that what gives theatre its value is the fact that it cannot be easily emulated and is a singular event in history.
In love thinking about the value that physical objects have in our psyche and how they can compel us to do certain things or illicit deep memories from our past. As a scenic designer, I roten observe what types of object as are given this deep value and what objects are deemed useless after they are used . For me as a child, I always loved taking home the ticket snubs of any shows I would go see. This was a nice little artifact because I would always be able to remember the date of the performance, where it was and other details of the event on the ticket stub. The article covers a very interesting topic of trying to recreate the action of a live performance through some sort of collection of objects, display or exhibition. I feel that although this is very interesting and can illicit memories from this who were there in person, it cannot recreate the event in history that is a theatre performance. I feel that what gives theatre its value is the fact that it cannot be easily emulated and is a singular event in history.
This is something I think about a lot. One part of me is glad that a theatrical experience is by nature fleeting, and cannot be reproduced, but the other half of me wants to experience every play ever all the time from the comfort of my own home. I believe I think of the former when I am in the room experiencing theater, and I believe the latter when I miss out on a production or here about a great play in a city far away from where I find myself. This collection at the National Library is very cool, and its an interesting way to tell the history of theater in a new and interesting way, but it can never live up to witnessing the productions it details first hand, and this collection luckily doesn’t try to. It acts more like a memory of them given to people who weren’t there.
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