Ah, NYC Theater you tickle me you old Slag.
Having to see your friends in shows is part of a deal you strike when you enter into this world of make believe. I'll show you mine if you show me yours kind of a thing. But what happens when it's a bad show?
Well it happens.... a lot... and after a while it's like how are these plays getting put on? But they do and sometimes it's your own. That's when it becomes really awkward to run into someone you know seeing a mutual friends show. This person you run into has seen your last production and thought it was the worst thing they had seen in years. Well... so of course you hope this show you are about to see, sitting side by side, is more horrific than the thing you put on last.... and guess what... it was... okay you caught me... this wasn't a scenario of what ifs... it was a real - true life situation.
The funny bit about the night was him telling me of his having to tell his friend (an actor) about the interesting space he had performed in... in order to avoid saying the show was a piece of crap...but he was talking about my show! And saying this to my actor! GT and I weren't sure if he realized it. I mean my show wasn't that bad but just that one performance he saw. The actors weren't into it, lines were dropped and the audience... all four of them were giving them nothing... so yes that night it wasn't what it should have been but if this guy had come to the weekend performance - like you always should - he would have seen a very different show! A really good one in fact with an actual audience giving the actors some mojo to pump it up a notch. But I doubt that was the case with the show we were watching right then - side by side - judging our friend for just wanting to work. Not caring if it was worth it. I don't think it would have mattered what kind of audience this show had - it just didn't work...
But it's getting to the point where I haven't seen many good shows lately and I wonder why is that? We love theater... all of us who do it... that's clear... but does our enthusiasm for "hey look at me" get in the way of putting on good art? Or good entertainment? We just want something - anything up and running rather than just sit and wait for the right thing to maybe come along... I don't know... I do it too. You take opportunities when they come because you're scared another won't. But... maybe it's time to start thinking about the audience... money is tight... this leads me to the question as a playwright what is it people want to see? And how do I do it so they enjoy it... see with every bad show you see comes important lessons of what not to do... or if it's your show - what not to do again...
0 comments:
Post a Comment