Sunday 17 April 2011

The Theatre

I am truly in love with the theatre. Just the occasion, the formality and the way it makes you feel. For a brief 2 or 3 hours you get to know a character so well - their insecurities, fears and vulnerability, but also what makes them tick, their thought processes and reasonings.

Being able to escape your own world is something which I think marks a great play, something which captivates you by the beauty of the scenery, the words or the acting and for a few hours you forget to check your watch and your life outside the auditorium. All that matters are the characters. What they say should involve you. It should make you feel like you should help them, run up give them a hug, celebrate with them, just be there to point something out.

Then I think of all the dedication these players have bought with them to the scene. I find this especially in Shakespeare. It’s not easy to understand and it’s easier to mis-interpret than to do so correctly, I just think of the sheer amount of work involved in understanding the language, actually making it mean something and letting it sound so natural, that I could easily find myself naturally wanting to adopt the Shakespearian language in the interval and after the performance.

I think that’s why I want to work in theatre, not to get up on stage and perform it myself necessarily, but just to be involved in the process. My dad always used to say, why be the spectator when you could be the performer, the producer or the director.