A few weeks ago, I wrote about the problems you can encounter at the theatre. On the last occasion, I was sitting next to a man with a very loud laugh, who found things funny that no one else did. Before that, I had the experience of sitting on a very low seat in a play without an interval.
Looking back, there have been many times when it didn’t work out well. Last Saturday, we went to a show in the West End and found that I was watching a dull musical. For me, the story moved so slowly that I didn’t really care about anyone, so there was not enough happening for me to carry on. I have to say that just about everyone else there was applauding loudly and cheering at the end with a standing ovation. This is not unusual for me; I often find myself not agreeing with everyone else. Sometimes it seems a bit like the emperor’s new clothes in that I can’t see why they all like it, and I don’t.
You might ask why I bother then – after all, it’s not cheap to sit in a West End theatre even if you are sitting in the Gods. The easy answer is to say that when it works, it seems to make those other times worth it. I have seen some plays that didn’t excite me, but I’ve also seen some standout shows which will always be in my head years later.
There’s another reason I go. I like the community aspect of being in an audience. You know what I mean. That crazy way we have to pass people to get to our seat, and we apologise more than is necessary. The queues at the bar, even the loo, for some people. All those painful things about being around other people. But once the lights go down, you are there with a bunch of strangers, and you become aware of them as well as the performance. If it’s a comedy, there is laughter which sometimes becomes infectious and spreads until the whole show rolls along on the wave between the stage and the audience. If it’s a drama or even a tragedy, then it’s the silence that comes over you – and you can feel the concentration and the feelings that start on the stage and travel to the audience.
It’s knowing that we are all sharing the same story. If we are lucky, it strikes a chord in us. If it doesn’t, it can feel like time stretches out forever. We all know that feeling.
I’m not selling theatre very well here, but in the aftermath of World Theatre Day, my point is, it reminds us that, as people, we are all connected, and that can make us laugh or cry – or sometimes yawn.
