A Guide To Making and Watching Theatre

As a writer, I am sometimes astounded by the sheer possibilities that our generation is merited. Between film, performance art, theatre, and literary writing, not to mention the options under these umbrellas (all of which are constantly changing), it soon gets to be fairly exhausting. However, one of these has cemented itself as a constant, and that is ‘Theatre’. It’s earliest mentions as a source of entertainment, go as far back as 535 BC with the wandering bard Thespis, and his one man shows. Over the years it has been a medium for celebration, political critique, and entertainment. it has struggled, evolved, and adapted. Theatre, a medium that was always at the forefront of societal change, in many ways, is as resilient as the people it reflects.

In the last few years, there has been a strong resurgence of theatre in India. More and more are answering the Sirens’ call to theatre. It, in recent memory, has always been seen as the antitheses to the traditional, formulaic, risk-less, storytelling that is prevalent in the mainstream film industry. Within the confines of live theatre performances, artists find liberation, and work to push the boundaries of the form, to various degrees of success. There isn’t a dearth of options today but, as in any industry, with the tidal forces of competition, bias, pseudo intellectualism, and low barriers of entry, you can easily get pulled underwater and find yourself…… lost. It is something that I have experienced and think about a lot. I believe, that in order to break the surface, you have to ask yourself one question. What is the purpose of theatre?

Now this isn’t a conversation of good vs bad theatre, nor is it a question about the numerous types that exist. Each of these have unique outlooks on structure, staging, and content, and utilize those elements towards a specific function. However, the purpose of theatre, I believe, is far more rudimentary and pervasive. First, I think we have to establish something. Theatre, is a form that relies on an audience. However, the question then arises, should they then inform the nature of the play? If you charted this on a spectrum, you would find that opinions on the matter can vary greatly. On one end you would have the likes of David Mamet who believes that the audience is the sole arbiter of quality, and on the other extreme would sit Howard Barker who believes that theatre is not a matter of entertainment, and went so far as to assert that it should be taxing. Now both of these playwrights are award winning, renowned, and controversial, yet have seemingly contradictory and highly polarizing opinions, motivating people to search and discover where they fall on the spectrum, often before experiencing the labour one must undertake to formulate an independent opinion. There will clearly exist a symphony of debate around this question, but I think that there is an important distinction that must be made to fully understand the implications of what these playwrights believe. Their opinions are focused not on the purpose of theatre, but on the process of creating it. An analysis of these beliefs, seemingly immiscible, reveal 2 motivations that are unified. They both speak of audiences as active participants. While Mamet aims to entertain his audience, and Barker wants to tax them, both aim to achieve one thing ‘Engagement’. They wish to engage their audience, draw them in, and transcend the passive state to which audiences are predisposed. The second takeaway is the importance of ‘Empathy’. Regardless of whether you consider or disregard your audience in the creation process, once the curtain rises, from that point onward, it belongs to and exists for, the audience.

Over the years I have watched countless plays that fight to find their footing on the spectrum. Some tremendously aware of its audience, playing for the cheap seats (and even cheaper laughs), while others perform with utter disregard, putting the audience through a harrowingly mundane experience. The plays that have truly stood out, the ones that make you want to endure the long drive in evening traffic, to watch a performance, are those that draw you in. They invite you to participate, make you invest in the story and the characters. Now I can’t tell you what theatre to make, nor do I want to. But whatever it is that you make, you have to remember that theatre is collaborative. It is a joint experience for both the audience and the creators. If people give you 2-3 hours of their time, they deserve to be kept engaged and emotionally stimulated. Because if you don’t, then you have to ask yourself....

"What’s the purpose?"

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