So...what do YOU get out of the theatre?

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 8/18/10 at 12:17pm

Look I know its not as sexy as the failed actor stirring up rumors about a theatre legend, but still...this is a wonderful article and I'd love to hear what everyone thinks about it.


And I'd love to know just what everyone gets out of going to the theatre.
The Play's The Thing...getting butts in the seats

Updated On: 8/18/10 at 12:17 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/18/10 at 4:52pm

Thank you for sharing this Borstal. Good article.

I love what Seldes said...

"The loveliest feeling is to be stunned in theatre"

I agree. Couldn't help thinking at the end of the piece about what Joe Papp did prior to the opening of the Delacorte taking shows around the city. I am actually reading the book "Free For All" now.

Edit: I forgot to say what I get out of the theatre!

I think I just love the fact that it is live and I love a show that pushes boundries or makes you think. And, like Ms Seldes said, I like a show that will stun me also. I especially like shows that spark good conversation afterwards. I used to love musicals more than plays but that has evened out over the years.

I am also wondering how true Paullus' comment is about people wanting to get away from their laptops. I guess that is true for some people but we always see people with their devices out at the theater.

Updated On: 8/18/10 at 04:52 PM

[gotham girl]

Posted: 8/19/10 at 10:28am

leaving the world to its own devices for a couple of hours to marvel at someone's natural gift to move me to tears, laughter, awe, reflection.

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/19/10 at 10:34am

"When I have a theatre ticket, I'm happy all day long."

I couldn't agree more.

[brightasyellow]

Posted: 8/19/10 at 10:35am

"Theatre is visceral," says Paulus, somehow managing to eke an onomatopoeiac feeling (I've found this is also possible) through her impassioned enthusiasm. "You're in it. You're in a space with other human beings. And you want to feel your blood pumping, you want to feel your energy, and you want your mind engaged. Theatre is not mutually exclusive. The emotional, the spiritual, the intellectual, and the physical, the visceral - that's the theatre, that's the theatrical event."

^
^

This. I feel connected, I feel the energy, I just love it. It's magic.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 8/19/10 at 10:40am

"When I have a theatre ticket, I'm happy all day long."

I couldn't agree more.

That's the quote I connected with, too!

[Weez]

Posted: 8/19/10 at 10:45am

Massive amounts of debt, the unnerving feeling that people are watching my Twitter feed, and occasional frustration when something just isn't as good as it should be.

Also the most unrelenting, indefinable JOY. It is an entertainment medium like no other, combining emotion, thought, invention, stories, interaction, and community in a way that film, TV, books, and even music can't. :3

[gotham girl]

Posted: 8/19/10 at 10:54am

"Also the most unrelenting, indefinable JOY. It is an entertainment medium like no other, combining emotion, thought, invention, stories, interaction, and community in a way that film, TV, books, and even music can't. :3"

i agree wholeheartedly. i feel like an active participant. this new fascination hollywood has with 3D makes me laugh. it is a 3D experience everytime i see a show.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/19/10 at 11:01am

The talking, the candy wrappers, the cellphones aside, I love the collective experience, the thrills in the Right Here, Right Now environment. The pleasure! The pleasure of gorgeously put together words, directorial surprises, pitch perfect performances.

The almost-sexual anticipation in some theaters, when some sort of theatrical event is going to start. I'm thinking of Hairspray the Monday night before it opened, the pre-show electricity in the audience I thought could have lit up the lite-brite set; I remember thinking how those lights were reflecting back the energy of the cast AND the audience.

I'm thinking about the second intermission of the original production of Millennium Approaches not long after it opened and chatting with a man not quite as ancient as The World's Oldest Living Bolshevik while in line for the men's room, and he excitedly said: "I wonder what Perestrokia will be about!!!!" Anticipation, anticipation, anticipation! And sometimes (like Perestroika), glorious release!

Thanks for linking the article Borstal. One of the bittersweet things about theatre, unfortunately, is the play isn't always the thing. Ultimately it is, but sometimes for all the high-minded idealism of a Bogart or a Paulis, there's the nuts and bolts day to day reality of making the magic we see and there's no way even the canniest artistic director can stop that from leaking out.

The article referred to Punchdrunk's Sleep No More, which Paulus brought to Boston last fall and winter. It was the second show of her A.R.T. season (not the final, as the article says) after Donkey Show, which is still running. I saw Sleep No More on New Year's Eve and again a month or so later. It was without a doubt a highlight in my theatre-going career. It literally changed the way I was seeing the world for several days after, I mean, visually taking in and responding to stimuli. It was a life-changing experience. No exaj. (Yes, I'm trying to make "exaj" happen).

But the fact is, the poor non-Eq performers in Paulus's Donkey Show are making less money than the coat check people at the theater it's in. That's a harsh reality and clouding it with pretty theoretical discussions about what theatre can be and how people crave it shouldn't mean people can't make a living wage making it.

Still, we take our pleasure where we can find it. I have heard it on the QT that Punchdrunk would love to find an accommodating space to mount Sleep No More in NYC. In Boston, no more than 300 tickets were sold per performance, so they became a hot commodity quickly. If it happens and you can go, do so. It's as if you're having a dream of a gorgeously immersive story and you're free to wander through and explore.

I hope theatrical geniuses find ways to continue to break ground on new and exciting and ultimately theatrical experiences and that the people doing the hard work of performing it for us can make their livings. Is that too much to ask?

Updated On: 8/19/10 at 11:01 AM

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 8/19/10 at 11:12am

Joy.

That about says it all.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/19/10 at 11:44am

For me, first and foremost, theatre is entertainment. One of the reasons I was a terrible theatre major is because I couldn't ever really talk about the edification of my soul and all that because I look no more to theatre than i do any other art to fill a void or edify my soul or whatever.

Does it challenge me and make me think? Sometimes, but so do some movies. Is live theatre a different kind of experience? Sure, but I can enjoy a good production of "Bye Bye Birdie" as much as I can a production of "Angels in America." Sometimes more.

Maybe it's because I was exposed to theatre at a very young age, but it's hard for me to put it on some some sort of sacred pedestal that other people always seem to be able to.

I like big stuff; I like small stuff. I like serious stuff; I like corny stuff. At the end of the day, though, whenever I see words like "nourishment" attached to theatre I just find it pompous and pretentious. I want to be entertained. The other stuff is secondary to me.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/19/10 at 11:52am

I think it was the musical-loving priest in "Jeffrey" that clued me in to the spiritual nature of theatre in a way I never had been before.

[gotham girl]

Posted: 8/19/10 at 11:54am

at the end of the day, it's all about escapism, isn't it?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/19/10 at 12:10pm

Is it always?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/19/10 at 12:14pm

Certainly I've found many productions to be escapist, but it's not what I'm ultimately after or what I need. I do need to be entertained, though. Didacticism for didacticism's sake just doesn't work for me.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/19/10 at 12:17pm

Another take that I think got it right was from the space aliens in "The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe":

"The play is soup, the audience is art."


(At least when it all works)

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/19/10 at 12:26pm

What if I don't LIKE soup!?

I'm glad you brought up the priest in Jeffrey because it made me remember this line - "Even Brecht wrote musicals!"

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 8/20/10 at 12:19am

I really enjoyed reading this. I've met the writer, too, she's great.

I could write essays, but what it all comes down to is one thing: LOVE.

[stmck012]

Posted: 8/21/10 at 2:15pm

What I get out of theatre...

For me going to shows and being an avid theatre supporter was the first thing I really enjoyed for myself and no one else. It was something for me :)

[Felm_heart]

Posted: 8/21/10 at 4:05pm

Look I know its not as sexy as the failed actor stirring up rumors about a theatre legend

Sorry, I'm a little out of the loop. What is this referring to?

[phantomcrazy14]

Posted: 8/21/10 at 4:51pm

There is so much you can get out of theatre. I love how when you're sitting in those seats, you know you are seeing something special. The actors and actresses are doing it for you and because they have a passion for acting and it's what they love to do. The fact you can laugh or cry at a show. Also, the amazement of how they can pull off all the effects live. Lastly, on the one day you wish could last forever, how it all speeds by in a rush of excitement that you can't even explain. It's better than a movie by far.