<
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/30/arts/theater-in-movies-tv-books.html>
"Anti-theatrical prejudice isn’t news; Plato banished theater from his
republic because he felt it encouraged unreality. And plays have long
made fun of their own foibles. But whether affectionate (“The Prom”) or
scathing (“Noises Off”), backstage comedies have traditionally taken the
art form seriously enough to affirm its worth despite its failings.
Theatrical satire is premised on the assumption that dramatic literature
as performed by live actors is at least sometimes capable of creating
larger human value."
Via theatre writer, director and producer Muse, who wrote:
"Theatre is a magnet to people with narcissistic aims. This can lead to
all sorts of toxicity. But we also have people of good-faith who wish to
create art.
Of late we have had a spate of film and television stories that portray
it as a has-been artform. I would say that theatre is probably the most
relevant art form we have, we just haven’t been using it correctly and
need to beat-up more interest.
Theatre is something that can be done by the people for the people.
Theatre is a place where difficult subjects can be addressed because it
is not reliant on massive budgets to exist. It also can touch people
more strongly than anything on a screen, because a live audience is
observing real people expressing real emotion.
The movie Birdman angered me. Why would anyone want to do theatre, if
that is what it is like? Of course if you scare people off, the more
mature artform has less of a chance to say subversive things. Those of
us in theatre should up our game. We do need to appropriately deal with
abuse. We also need to let it be known that we are here to stay."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://www.xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
http://www.glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
http://www.sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
