A page of local quotes on the value of theatre is in the sidebar to the right.  I'll add to it as things progress.
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Okay, my random thoughts about the value of theatre. . . especially for non-theatrical types.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

0 Ideas combined stylishly with entertainment.

0 Exploration of theme and meaning in life stories.

0 It’s about community experience with live performers.

0 It’s about immediacy of action.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

0 Provides a communal, interactive experience of art and story-- as it is made.

0 If TV and Film can explore the more literal stories of our world, theatre explores the dreamworld of our humanity.

WHY ATTEND?

Other artists attend theatre for a variety of reasons: cross germination of ideas, immediacy of experience, emotional catharsis, blah blah blah.

Regular people, though. . . they attend the theatre because:

0 They want to be seen as “patrons of the arts”.

0 It makes them feel more cultured and intelligent than the average joe.

0 It’s a decently impressive date.

0 It’s “something different” for a night out.

0 For younger audiences, it separates them from the retail, “commercial” hobbies of their peers.

0 For older audiences, it is thought to be a safe, pleasant, “lovely evening”. 

Here’s the kicker: Theatre’s inherent value is that it doesn’t have to be ONLY the above.

What makes theatre valuable to everyone is that it can seem harmless and antiquated (and perhaps it often is), but it can also be very subversively DANGEROUS while remaining oddly accessible.

And I don’t mean ‘dangerous’ in just the revolutionary form of the word. While in some quarters of the world a theatre production yielding marches in the streets for political and societal change could be a good thing, I’m actually speaking more about danger in the personal sense. (And who doesn’t love a little personal danger now and then?)

When seeing a production, any audience member could be in danger of:

0 Having an unexpected emotion rise up within himself.

0 Having her imagination engaged to such an extent she’s suspended in a moment, leaving herself behind.

0 Seeing something completely unplanned happen on the stage.

0 Seeing something completely unpleasant happen on the stage.

0 Witnessing really brave actions and then feeling shameful for his own cowardice.

0 Witnessing something really cowardly on the stage and then feeling shameful for humanity’s cowardice.

0 Becoming alarmed by the events of the play, and then becoming angered.

0 Becoming saddened by the actions of the characters.

0 Feeling joyous at the revelations of love in the characters.

0 Experiencing something unpolished, unsanitized, and not approved by the FDA.

0 Having an audible response to the play in the middle of a group of silent strangers.

0 Realizing those silent strangers aren’t so different from themselves after all.

You see, when people come to the theatre, for whatever initial reason, they unknowingly risk feeling in myriad unexpected ways. And there’s little getting away from it once it starts. The actors are right there. All of these risks are heightened because it’s a live experience. They risk sharing an engrossing, real-time moment with performers and other audience members—all of whom are in the same room and part of the experience. And, they risk never having the same theatrical experience twice, so they have to grab it quick or it’ll be gone.

 

 

 

PS—that sort of risk is a major factor in appealing to sports fans for their live events.  Just think of theatre as a sports event for the literary-minded, and it makes a little more sense.

Comments

[Jay Parks]

"In the true theatre a play disturbs the senses' repose, frees the repressed unconscious, incites a kind of virtual revolution (which moreover can have its full effect only if it remains virtual), and imposes on the assembled collectivity an attitude that is both difficult and heroic."
(A. Artaud - "Theatre & The Plague")

[Ian Mackenzie]

Hi there,

I've added a link to this post in my compilation of posts on last week's "theatre value" topic:

http://praxistheatre.blogspot.com/2008/03/value-of-theatre-wow.html

But I'm not sure who to credit with writing it. Let me know if you'd like me to add a name to it, and I'll gladly do so.

Thanks!