Writing about seeing “August: Osage County” last week gave me the opportunity to coalesce my thoughts about live theater. One of my questions to myself was, “If acting is acting then what makes the theater experience different than a performance on screen?”
First it begins with the written word. The text. The difference between a play and a screenplay is the number of words on the page. They both need a good story and they both develop a compliment of interesting characters. But, here’s where they begin to differ. In a play, the dramatic action of the words drives the story. The screen, and therefore the screenplay becomes a visual storytelling device. Add to that the ingredient of what happens when the action is live and you can see that the audience receives a very different performance experience.
The problem is that not enough people can or choose to see live theater. The reasons vary of course. Sometimes it’s the price of the theater tickets. Sometimes it’s not having venues where live theater is produced or presented. Sometimes it is just not having been exposed to the exhilaration of the experience.
There is an interesting move afoot that might change all of that. The Metropolitan Opera started it all several years ago through its presentation of their selected opera productions on large screens, first at Lincoln Center and then in Times Square. Then they presented the Peabody Award winning hi-definition telecasts of operas live from the Met in selected movie theaters. It is an incredible screen experience of a live performance. Not one edited for the screen but a performance seen as it is happening. Affordable and exhilarating. Now in it’s fourth season Live from the Met promises an exciting season of broadcast feeds at a movie theater in your community. Now, no matter where you live, you can have season tickets to the Met!
The newest entry into this live experience is theater. This time you can sit in your local movie theater or art museum and see live theater direct from London. The National Theater opened its season on June 24 with its heralded production of “Phaedra.” There are three more plays to come over this season. Think of it. You can experience a great company of actors performing wonderful plays at the very moment they are happening without flying to England. Amazing concept. I’m planning on organizing a theater party. Not just locally but I intend to get my daughter and her fiance, who live in London, and several of our London staff, to join our US USPA staff at the same performance. That way we can have a company outing at the theater together! Maybe you’ll join us too. I’m hoping that next year dance companies will follow suit and we’ll be able to enjoy the performances of the world’s renowned opera, theater and dance companies as part of our yearly entertainment.
