First of all, thanks Lefty for starting this thread. I had always thought about it, but given the slant here towards gaming, movies and music, I didn't think there'd be much interest. Good on ya.
I've been working professionally behind the scenes for about 12 years now and am thankful for the privilege.
As to your question of whether we've lost the 'idea' of theatre, it's hard to say. What is your idea of theatre? I think there is as much a place for frivolous spectacle as there is for thought provoking drama. As long as we don't lose the idea of coming out to share events together as an audience, theatre isn't going anywhere.
As a mass, people are always going to drift towards upbeat and safe entertainment rather than challenging works no matter what the medium. It's up to us, the creators, to produce works that reach out with energy and truth to draw the audience in.
So why aren't some people interested in live theatre? I bet it mostly comes down to the following three prejudices.
1) Theatre is a dull academic pursuit like philosophy or history.
2) Theatre is elitist, self indulgent and just plain weird.
3) Theatre is fruity.
For the first, I blame every dry high-school english class reading of Shakespeare ever forced on suffering students. I can't imagine a more opposite experience than live heartbreak echoing around you and line by line text analysis. Theatre is not about ye olde englishe translation. The best show I saw this year was The Wild Duck, by Ibsen. I can imagine the pain of reading the script for a test or essay, but onstage in the hands of a skilled cast and creative team, the show was incendiary.
As for the second, what can I say, sometimes this is true. I admit it. At a live performance the actors on stage feed off your reactions and vice versa. The audience becomes part of the show. This connected energy is thrilling with a strong work, but deadly otherwise. Being stuck at a clunker is truly painful. This is the real risk of theatre and one reason why many people drift towards other more detached forms of entertainment. It's also why some like me get hooked.
As for the third, well, that's just sad. You can't please everyone, and we shouldn't try. If Grandma would rather stay on the Casino floor playing the slots, and Dad just wants to watch the game, so be it. We can't get too discouraged by this and have to keep trying to reach out.
I'd like to hear what theatre(er) means to the members here. Do you have one of these three perceptions of theatre as an artform? What have you seen and liked or disliked? What would draw you into a basement theatre independant show instead of just a mega-musical?
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Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life
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