What can theater do?
In Saturday’s New York Times, Margo Jefferson asks the most important question of theater today, while reviewing a piece at the Fringe Festival: “What can theater do that television can’t?” We at Handcart ponder this question frequently.
The plays reviewed don’t give the best answer: “That’s the question, and the answer from Lorna Littleway, who wrote these plays, is only partly satisfying.” In her brief review, Jefferson makes a second pointed comment about theater in general: “There is some very sophisticated drama on television. But when theater imitates it, theater looks second best.” That the plays had Jefferson discussing the topic speaks well of them, even if they didn’t achieve as much as she would like.
I’m reminded very much of Scott’s initial blog entry a couple of years ago. May I recommend to all a re-reading? He says, among other things, “The theater’s unique power is to evoke — to call upon and stimulate the imagination rather than supplant it.”
Posted by Kevin Ashworth at August 23, 2005 09:33 AM
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