“Stop daydreaming.” “Be realistic.” We have probably all heard those words. But must dreams and reality always be on opposite sides? Our Theatretrain theme this year, Dreams and Realities, lets us explore what happens when the world as it is meets the world as we imagine it could be.
Theatre is a wonderful place to see inside people: their hopes, fears and imaginings. In West Side Story, Tony and Maria fall in love. It’s a New York neighbourhood divided by two rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. Later, in the “Somewhere” dream ballet, the hard streets where they live give way to a kinder, more peaceful world. Music and movement are the way we experience not only their feelings but also the world they long for.
Theatre can bring dreams and realities together. How wonderful to begin with a space, an idea and a group of people and make something that was not there before. In acting, we can explore the gap between a character’s hopes and their circumstances. In dance, something everyday can become strange or dreamlike. In singing, a character can voice a hope they would struggle to say aloud.
And the dream is shared. It is not only “What could I do?” but also “What could we create together—and where might it take us?” Imagination deserves space without always having to prove its usefulness. We can enjoy imagining something that will never happen. Not every dream needs a plan attached to it. That gives the year room for comedy and wonder as well as ambition and effort.
The word “realities” invites us to look through other people’s eyes and imagine what life feels like for them. A situation that might seem exciting to one person can be frightening to another. Theatre gives us a chance to explore both.
I’m convinced that our young people need this space more than ever. How can they create a different world unless they can first imagine one? Daydream away, share your thinking and bring it to life in the theatre space. This parallel world we enter is precious. You can step into someone else’s life, explore an impossible situation or ask the question at the heart of so many stories: “What if?” Where else can young people do that so immediately with other people?
You can look out of a window and dream, but in a performing arts class you can bring that dream to life so that others can see it and live it, just for a while.
Reality may still come back and bite us. Not everything goes our way, but we can adjust and try again. Characters in songs, dances and stories may not always succeed, but we enjoy watching them because they just might. And when they don’t, we also know what that feels like.
