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Friday, March 07, 2025
Theatre’s thriving horror revival reflects a cultural moment of collective anxiety
theconversation.com: The stage has long presented horror as entertainment, from 19th-century ghost and revenge melodramas to the blood-soaked spectacles of the grand-guignol, the Parisian “theatre of horror’.
One of my "Roman Empires" as some might say, is how horror trends express societal fears current to the era it was created in. Every film or play or musical ever made will reflect its current era and provide insight into how those involved with the story felt about said era in some form or fashion, but horror is unique in that it specifically dials in on what is scary to those in that moment of time. Some examples that immediately come to mind are nuclear fallout or alien horror stories being popular in the 1950s, and religious/demon-centered horror being popular as counterculture was on the rise in the 60s and 70s. The fact that people are rediscovering the stage as a medium for horror is not just really cool, but as the article states, probably telling of our collectively growing "screen exhaustion". I personally have never seen a horror-genre theatre show, but I desperately want to, for many of the reasons the article outlines. The stage presence of actors is so much more visceral than when viewed through a screen, and the overall experience feels more personal when technology is not involved.
I’ve always been interested in the psychology behind the media that we consume every day. For example, the stereotype of the calm true crime obsessed girl is rooted in some truth with true crime having predominantly female audiences, as women can often see themselves in the victims and in many cases on a deep subconscious level feel that consuming true crime content is a way to take back control of the situation from attackers. I think that horror functions very similarly to this, in that when people are faced with an influx of moral dilemmas or fears they tend to reach towards the things that scare them in a controlled setting. And theater is definitely one of the best ways to do that, as it is live entertainment and therefore arguably more ‘real’ and tangible than a movie or podcast. I think that as time goes on and political concerns rise more in the US, horror theater will continue to expand and provide comfort for the many people who it resonates with.
Horror as a genre has always been a psychosocial experiment, the media built less to entertain and more to push the limits of what society considered acceptable and could stomach. Throughout the years there have been vast varieties of horror media and the genre has had an eb and flow of popularity, with different subgenres having their moments, popularity that can be found to heavily coincide with the anxieties and social focuses of a society. It is an interesting phenomenon, though no surprise, that at a point in time where isolation has come to the forefront of many social conversations, that horror theatre has made a resurgence. Similar to the way that body horror and Theseus’ ship conundrums have become very popular in recent years, which has been associated with the rise of the use in AI and the collective body image confusion brought on by social media, this change in the theatrical market is, as the article states, a reflection of the time. I am personally a massive horror fan, and I have seen and been a part of many horror productions, so I am elated to see that the genre is having its time to shine. Though I still fear what it means for society, I am excited to see what the next bought of social dread brings to the stage and the silver screen.
I think that this article raised some interesting questions about the revival of theatre and how it may reflect our own current state of being as a culture and as a society. I think that I agree that the main reason for this resurgence is the need for catharsis, and especially in a time like this, filled with heightened divisions and greater uncertainty, there may be more emotions that need a safe place to be felt. For example, when you can’t buy eggs at the grocery store, you can’t fall to your knees and break into sobs in the middle of the grocery store, but if you store that emotion for later and then process it at a horror production by screaming at a something you see, it will still give you a release that you needed, even if you weren’t aware that was what you needed until it happened.
4 comments:
One of my "Roman Empires" as some might say, is how horror trends express societal fears current to the era it was created in. Every film or play or musical ever made will reflect its current era and provide insight into how those involved with the story felt about said era in some form or fashion, but horror is unique in that it specifically dials in on what is scary to those in that moment of time. Some examples that immediately come to mind are nuclear fallout or alien horror stories being popular in the 1950s, and religious/demon-centered horror being popular as counterculture was on the rise in the 60s and 70s. The fact that people are rediscovering the stage as a medium for horror is not just really cool, but as the article states, probably telling of our collectively growing "screen exhaustion". I personally have never seen a horror-genre theatre show, but I desperately want to, for many of the reasons the article outlines. The stage presence of actors is so much more visceral than when viewed through a screen, and the overall experience feels more personal when technology is not involved.
I’ve always been interested in the psychology behind the media that we consume every day. For example, the stereotype of the calm true crime obsessed girl is rooted in some truth with true crime having predominantly female audiences, as women can often see themselves in the victims and in many cases on a deep subconscious level feel that consuming true crime content is a way to take back control of the situation from attackers. I think that horror functions very similarly to this, in that when people are faced with an influx of moral dilemmas or fears they tend to reach towards the things that scare them in a controlled setting. And theater is definitely one of the best ways to do that, as it is live entertainment and therefore arguably more ‘real’ and tangible than a movie or podcast. I think that as time goes on and political concerns rise more in the US, horror theater will continue to expand and provide comfort for the many people who it resonates with.
Horror as a genre has always been a psychosocial experiment, the media built less to entertain and more to push the limits of what society considered acceptable and could stomach. Throughout the years there have been vast varieties of horror media and the genre has had an eb and flow of popularity, with different subgenres having their moments, popularity that can be found to heavily coincide with the anxieties and social focuses of a society. It is an interesting phenomenon, though no surprise, that at a point in time where isolation has come to the forefront of many social conversations, that horror theatre has made a resurgence. Similar to the way that body horror and Theseus’ ship conundrums have become very popular in recent years, which has been associated with the rise of the use in AI and the collective body image confusion brought on by social media, this change in the theatrical market is, as the article states, a reflection of the time. I am personally a massive horror fan, and I have seen and been a part of many horror productions, so I am elated to see that the genre is having its time to shine. Though I still fear what it means for society, I am excited to see what the next bought of social dread brings to the stage and the silver screen.
I think that this article raised some interesting questions about the revival of theatre and how it may reflect our own current state of being as a culture and as a society. I think that I agree that the main reason for this resurgence is the need for catharsis, and especially in a time like this, filled with heightened divisions and greater uncertainty, there may be more emotions that need a safe place to be felt. For example, when you can’t buy eggs at the grocery store, you can’t fall to your knees and break into sobs in the middle of the grocery store, but if you store that emotion for later and then process it at a horror production by screaming at a something you see, it will still give you a release that you needed, even if you weren’t aware that was what you needed until it happened.
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