Why Do We Do This? Part 2 -- The Art
While I suppose Derrida would have fun with the fact that my reasons for “doing this” include an escape from conceptual pain and the search for truth, which in many ways leads to conceptual pain, I argue that the search for truth can be done mindfully and with the fun of exploration. Besides, as Whitman finds the universe in a blade of grass, we find it in the actions, motivations, and tactics of the characters we watch and see.
As readers and even as theatre audience members, we search for some truth through the art we experience. William Bradford wanted his audience to read his account of God’s actions (nature) and wanted to make sure that God showed through his work more clearly than did the author. For this reason, he wrote in plain style so that nothing would stand in the way of the audience almost being there and having the same or similar interaction with God. How much more plain could we get if we were able to see Plymouth Plantation, to hear the sailors, to watch the anguish and the triumph? What if we were allowed to collect the Pilgrim’s motivations and use them as our own, to wear the clothes of these men and women and take on their appearance, to desire what they desire, gain what they gain, and feel the pain of losing what they lose? Now if in creating this scene, think of what we either don’t care about or even want to avoid. As audience members, we don’t want the person playing Myles Standish to work toward gaining our favor so that he becomes nervous that we’re watching him or cheesy in his macho-ness. As participants in the enactment, we would think it rather odd if someone approached us afterwards and said they loved us for who we really are now. (They like us; they really like us!) And if we were on the newspaper payroll, what would we have added to the human discourse if we only reported the sequence of events rather than the truth we acquired from the actions, motivations, and tactics of the characters in the staged environment?
Although the fun aspect makes theatre worth doing and may even be the only way to do it, theatre has to be an art if it is to be worth watching. And if no one is watching or if no one is understanding, then you are not sharing the fun and the truth. Stanislovski says in An Actor Prepares, “Every person who is really an artist desires to create inside of himself another, deeper, and more interesting life than the one that actually surrounds him.” While we may argue with Stanislavski that no life is more interesting than the ones in nature, we can at least believe that the artist wants to create a more dynamic or stage-worthy life and that the artist wishes to share that life with his or her audience.
The copyright of the article Why Do We Do This? Part 2 -- The Art in Teaching Theatre is owned by Jon Blackstock. Permission to republish Why Do We Do This? Part 2 -- The Art in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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