Christopher Plummer, dismayed at theater tickets' steep cost
I don’t know if many have read the recent article posted on the Boston.com Culture desk: Christopher Plummer, dismayed at theater tickets’ steep cost?
I don’t know if many have read the recent article posted on the Boston.com Culture desk: Christopher Plummer, dismayed at theater tickets’ steep cost?
To be brief, it complains that people aren’t coming to the theaters like they used to because the cost is simply too high.
When you read it, you can’t help but agree.
But one point that it neglects to mention that I feel plays
a pertinent role in the drastic decline of the regular theater goers is the
media available from your own home. All the DVDs, the TV, online Internet… So
much is accessible and available to the everyday citizen as they sit in the
comfort of their homes.
And all this for prices that the theater companies can never
hope to compete with – it’s simply not possible to go to the theater for under
$3.
While some may say, and I agree, that a movie is not the
same as watching the actors perform live, you can rent old recordings of
theatrical performances to watch at home for less than $10. You can’t go to the
theater for less than $50 or so, at a minimum if you want a decent show. And
that’s with a seat behind the pillar in the far back.
Dead funny? In praise of corpsing on stage
I don’t know if many have read the recent
article posted on the Boston.com Culture desk: Dead funny? In praise of
corpsing on stage (At this time of year, you'll find plenty of actors
breaking down in laughter. Irritating and unprofessional – or can it bring a
production alive?)?
It paints a
delightful reminder (for me, at the very least) of the very reason why it’s
worth going to the theater instead of just watching movies and TV shows at home
– it’s that element of humanity and life that you simply can’t find anywhere
else.
That’s the crux of
why theater, despite the high price it now demands, is still around today. It’s
that feeling of reality, of catching a glimpse of truth – it’s real actors on
stage, going with the flow of the show, not stopping, cutting, editing and
redoing until it’s got a plastic perfect and seamless appearance. That’s what a
film will do – cutting and pasting until it appears flawless.
But that’s just it
– humans aren’t. We’re made of flaws, our world is flawed, life is flawed.
Theater is flawed.
And that’s the
beauty of it.
Kenneth Branagh recalls the opening ceremony of London 2012
I don’t know if many have read the recent article
posted on the guardian, in The Observer: Kenneth Branagh recalls the opening ceremony of London
2012 (27 July: the actor relives working with Danny Boyle to
help create the dazzling opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics)?
Kenneth Branagh
briefly shares his experience in being a part of the British opening ceremony
for the 2012 Olympics, and if you ever have a case of jitters before a show, go
read it for a second. It makes you realize that even the most professional,
prepared people get nervous before going on stage.
And it’s relaxing to
realize that you’re not going to be performing before the Queen of England, or
80,000 people in the morning… puts our jitters in perspective. As long as you
remember to enjoy yourself and you know your part, “the show will go on”.
You have every right
in the world to be nervous before a show – it’s nothing to be ashamed of J
Just don’t let it
ruin the experience.
Downstream Garage: The Shanghai Theater the Authorities Love to Hate
I don’t know if many have read the
recent article posted on CNNGo.com: Downstream
Garage: The Shanghai Theatre the Authorities Love to Hate ?
Reading
this article pulls to your attention the fact that government grants do not
always come with no strings attached. There is always the possibility that they
demand a censure of the work you’re showing, their argument being that since
they’re the ones providing the funding, they have that right. Therefore, it
would seem as though the only truely free expression of the arts can occur
without a government backing – a difficult situation as the theater may find
itself unable to stay afloat.
There is
also the advantage, though it is financially a disadvantage, that a theater
like Downstream Garage does not cater it’s play and performances for what the
audience appears to be wishing to see at the moment. They will put on anything,
regardless of what the ‘turn-out’ rate is predicted to be.
« Underground,
anti-authoritarian and always on the verge of closure, Downstream Garage is the
antidote to Shanghai mainstream theater. »
- Downstream Garage: The Shanghai Theatre the Authorities Love to Hate.
It is
only in this sort of theater that you will be able to discover the beliefs and
values of a particular culture: not through the familiar and traditional plays
that people know (and have generally been government approved), but rather
through the unfamiliar (and frequently experimental) works from a new
generation of playwrights. While not all of the performances have been known to
be stellar, hardly anything is perfect on the first try. It takes time,
experience and effort – something that the Downstream Garage is there to
provide space for.
Downstream Garage owner Wang Jingguo
says his theater isn’t a theater, he prefers to call it “a free laboratory for
artists, a ground for performances that would otherwise be stillborn or
deformed by commercial gravity.”
- Downstream Garage: The Shanghai Theatre the Authorities Love to Hate.
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