What Value is There in Theatre?
I was starting to feel as though I was shouting into the wind with the ole blogs, but have just discovered a myriad of responses and questions awaiting my approval to be posted. Duh!
Thanks Dan Bain, Robert Gilbert, Terry McTavish and Lee Vandervis for your questions and comments. Apologies in my delay posting them.
I thought this week I'd run with one of Lee's questions: What value does theatre have beyond just entertainment?
There have been many papers, blogs, lectures and essays written on the subject. In Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz's 7 Reasons Why Theatre Makes Our Lives Better (http://theatrewashington.org/content/7-reasons-why-theatre-makes-our-lives-better) he summerizes, "...it does no harm, expresses a basic human instinct, brings people together, models democratic discourse, contributes to education and literary, sparks economic revitalization, and influences how we think and feel about our own lives."
I could be somewhat bias given I eat, sleep, breathe theatre, but I believe theatre's value, beyond entertaiment, is infinite. Infinite because it's power isn't always obviously visible. Theatre, in it's ability to bring people together and make us reflect in on ourselves, is often working it's magic on us long after we have left it.
Here's a start to what I believe theatre's value is beyond entertainment;
Educational nourishment for audiences and practitioners; at Fortune this can encompass development support for emerging and established playwrights, internships in various departments (eg: set design, wardrobe, production etc..), immersive ambassador programmes for high school students, assitant directing opportunities, auditioning workshops, Members Briefings, Q & A sessions etc. Artists and audiences alike are often taken into worlds other than their own, past, present and future - this educational insight is vital in not only understanding ourselves, but in practicing tolerance and compassion.
Community nourishment; the theatre is an open door for interaction with people from all walks of life, we are conduits for open discussion around ideas, dreams, metaphor, politics, religion, language, poetry, design...the list is endless. With this in mind, theatre is one of the only forms of entertainment that does not censor, has no adult ratings, and therefore should reflect pure freedom of voice. In turn, inspiring, suprising, shocking, amusing, educating, challenging and rejuventating the human spirit.
Shared experience; where else can you sit in the dark with complete strangers either side of you and laugh, cry, sigh together? It doesn't happen in a movie theatre like that. All senses are engaged whilst witnessing humans engaging in the oldest art of story telling.
HUMAN INTERACTION; without realising it we're giving over to computers on every level. At a fundamental base level theatre reminds us we're human. It forces us to embrace humanity on every level. Even the most commercial of plays does this.
With theatre there is magic, or should I say, with good theatre there should be magic. So, I embrace the old cliche that theatre has the ability to transform, because I am lucky enough to be witness to that on a daily basis.
Okay, so now it's your turn to add to this list.
Why do you value the theatre?
Lara
Comments
Emily Duncan says:
12/02/2015 at 08:02 pm
Two examples of theatre that has added value to people’s lives that jumped to the forefront of my mind are Miranda Harcourt’s Verbatim and the 1957 production of Waiting for Godot at San Quentin prison. I’ve picked these two because, of course, they have prisons in common. You have a subset of the community that are removed from society due to their offending, but often the reasons for their offending cannot be pinned down to some finite, neat little package of an explanation where blame, culpability, and anger hang on any one hook. Where I think that Verbatim and the Godot production added value is that they provided a sounding board, outlet and receptacle for that blame, culpability, anger, and offending. I am in no way claiming that theatre is a fool-proof, one-size, fix-it therapy for victims or prisoners, but I do think it can in some way help people to un-knot themselves from whatever web they’re tangled in by recognising themselves and their situations live on stage, in the company of others.
Here’s a link to an article about Godot at San Quentin if anyone is interested.
http://www.apieceofmonologue.com/2013/05/rick-cluchey-samuel-beckett-interview-godot-krapp.html
Anne says:
18/02/2015 at 02:02 pm
Will the show be videoed at all? My dad is from rural Ireland and is 84 years old - he is physically incapacitated but would dearly love to see it. He keeps seeing the ads on the paper and has asked me if I can do anything about it.
Cheers
Frances says:
11/02/2015 at 04:02 am
Great blog Lara, thanks.
If I had to single something out about theatre, its that it is transformative. It’s collaborative, cathartic and when audience and story connect, the transformation reaches right down to the core. People need theatre. They need its collaborative nature and storytelling to connect and respond while feeling safely tucked up in the audience. Theatre is more than entertainment because the nature of theatre seeks to do more than entertain.