Why do we do theatre?
All animals come into this world with an innate compulsion to procreate in order to sustain the species. Human beings are a part of this movement, but we also have another innate compulsion that sets us apart – and that is to create. This creation comes in many forms – people create tools to make tasks easier, we create shelter to protect us from the elements, and we create art.
And why do we create art? Does it protect us from danger? Not really – not in a concrete sense anyway. Does it put food on your table? Rarely. Does it provide security and financial stability for the future? Likely not.
So why do we do it? I suppose everyone you ask will have a different answer for that question – but I propose that we create art, because as a species we have a fundamental need for artistic expression. And we all do it… everyone – not just the people who adopt the persona of ‘the artist’. As human beings express our thoughts, desires, and emotions in various ways – whether it be one of the ‘fine arts’, or random doodling, or deciding what clothes to wear on a given day… I would argue that even sexual fantasies are a form of artistic expression. Perhaps all of these outlets cannot be considered art, but I would propose that they are all examples of artistic expression. And this is one of the characteristics that make human beings so unique, and so special. Sure we have opposable thumbs, and a sense of self, but our abilities to express ourselves in manners that surpass roaring and barking, and move into the abstract, is one of our greatest gifts.
Why do we do theatre?
When you get right down to it, theatre is the most human of all the art forms. Rather than using a medium that is once removed from ourselves such as paint or clay, we use ourselves – sure, you could say dance does the same, but theatre uses more of the human faculties on a more regular basis. Theatre is a very instinctive way to tell stories, convey thoughts and ideas, and most importantly express the human condition. This doesn’t necessarily mean that audiences go to the theatre to be ‘enlightened’ by the artist, or taught some mega-philosophy – in fact, I believe that is a bit of an egotistical posture held by some – but rather to share in a common human experience. We are all artists at the core (we just learn to suppress it), and theatre is way of celebrating that. A performance reveals a vulnerable place for the artist and audience to connect – whether that place be welcoming, or abrasive. Theatre, as an art form, cannot exist without a live human audience with which to resonate. Love, rage, fear, sorrow, elation, humour are all universal human emotions – we all have these emotions inside, and we all bring them to the theatre, which provides a field of understanding (and allows the audience members to enlighten themselves).
Quite often what the artist intends to deliver, and what the audience receives are two completely different things. Let’s say we have a theatre artist who creates an angst-ridden piece about everything that is wrong with the world. The performer spends an hour yelling, screaming, swearing, railing, and crying – all in an attempt to deeply move and enlighten the audience to the horrors of the world in a very dramatic fashion. And let’s say that in the audience, there is an aged theatre professional, whose life experience dwarfs that of the performer - and rather than being affected in the way the performer intends, the older artist sees something completely different. Rather than being enlightened by the performer’s message, the senior artist feels a pang of embarrassment from when they too, some thirty years before, created their own theatre piece that greatly resembled what they just saw. And rather than being moved by the horrors of the world, as the performer intended, the senior artist is moved by the fact that the circle of life in the theatre continuing. Is this still theatre? Yes. Is it a successful piece of theatre? Yes… at least I believe so. There was a shared experience of expression between performer and audience, and even though the experience was not what the performer intended, it still existed.
Good theatre. Bad Theatre. Both exist, and both are important. It’s a common adage, but a good one: theatre is like a painting, comprised of many brush strokes. Each stroke has a different colour, and a different quality to it. Some are beautiful and pleasing, while some are ugly and offensive. But it isn’t until you stop looking at the separate brush strokes, and see the painting as a whole that you realize the greater picture. Each brush stroke plays an important role in creating that picture. And as human beings, we cannot help but make these brush strokes out of a fundamental need to express ourselves.
So, basically, theatre is created and experienced because it is our nature to do so. It is simply one out of a myriad of components that make up who we are as people – and as people, we are all, in our own way, artists.
- Geoffrey Ewert, April 2007
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