Tag Archives: theatre

Performances and life

We watched The Prom last night at Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS). It was an excellent performance, with clever comedy and fun songs. It was also a nice, cool night for outdoor theatre. My wife and I had a wonderful night out.

This morning I thought a little bit about the play’s theme: “The musical follows four Broadway actors lamenting their days of fame, as they travel to the conservative town of Edgewater, Indiana, to help a lesbian student banned from bringing her girlfriend to high school prom.”

While the town is fictional, I can’t help but be disappointed that this story doesn’t play in my mind as an era piece. It doesn’t come off as a 1960’s hick, small town story from yesteryear. Instead, it feels incredibly relevant to some of the stories coming out of small towns, and whole states, south of our Canadian border.

That equality and equity are still basic rights being fought for today is sad to the point of tragic. That there is relevance to the play’s message, and it’s not a piece about a long gone era is upsetting. However this was based on a similar story in a small town in Mississippi in 2010.

2010!

Good theatre tells stories that are relevant, I just wish this performance was less relevant today, and more of a historical telling.

History Repeats

We went to see a theatre performance of Fiddler On The Roof last night. The story ends with the Ukrainian Jews being kicked off their lands and dispersed across Europe and to America. After the show the lead star said that last night’s performance, and all of their performances, were dedicated to the Ukrainian people.

It makes me realize that we are not a truly civilized species. We fight over land and over resources. We kill in the name of God and Country. We judge based on skin colour and cultural differences. We act like unruly children against each other and we allow ourselves to repeat historical errors, none the wiser that lessons could have been learned.

We might have bigger brains, but we are no better than warring ant colonies, or a rutting animal fighting for dominance. We are animals pretending to be civilized. Power corrupts and corruption leads to injustice, and injustice undermines civility. We let history repeat itself because politics is more important that people and countries matter more than compassion.

Live performances

I could never do it. Step on stage night after night and perform the same set of lines. It’s not something I would want to do. Tell me I have to present some information to 1,500 kids in a school gym, easy. Give me 5 lines to act in the same scenario and I’m a mess. I’ll give you a performance similar to a cardboard cutout of myself. And, I’ll probably mess up 2 of the 5 lines.

But put me in the audience and I’m in awe of the dramatic artists on stage. I get swept up in the performance. I am in awe of the the performers sharing their craft. And while I am someone who rarely watches all but a handful of favourite movies more than once, I can watch a live performance again and again.

Yesterday, in front of a very small audience, I got to watch my daughter in a musical for the first time in 2 years. Opening night is often a bit shaky, but her and her 2nd year cohort really nailed the performance, it was wonderful. Their creative interpretation of the play, with minimal props, was clever and imaginative, and the performers all hit their marks.

I will miss tonight’s performance for a (digital) open house event at my school, and then catch the closing performance tomorrow night. And I’ll probably enjoy the performance more than I did last night. That’s the power of a live performance, and I love to watch. I also love the joy it brings my daughter, but I never want to be on the stage myself. My role is in the audience.