The future of Theatre/ old writings.

Dating back into mans earliest forays into the dramatic arts, the primary function of performance has been to transport the audience, and the performers into a sustained reality away from the reality of the world beyond the stage or the theatre. Creating a dreamland per say, a space for them to dwell in briefly, juxtaposed to their mundane lives. The original formations of theatre were seen in the Greek “Rites of Dionysus” where participants played roles of salutation to the god “Dionysus”, the god of Food, fertility and entertainment, hence the dramatic arts. Theatre is a founding element of all established societies, regardless of its form or the location of the society. Theatre was, until the industrial revolution, the pinnacle of social outings; this precedes even Greece and dates back into the Depths of Africa through Asia, Europe and the America’s. The main element attributing to this cross-section is the fact that theatre transports the psyche into the realm of the script or the story being retold. It is the most visual way to tell a story that we had, until the advent of moving images, followed by Television and the Film industry. However, the advent of this technology is not in itself what has brought around the fall of theatre from youth and much of the population that makes up popular culture today. What has brought this about is theatre’s lack of utilization when it comes to the tools they have at their availability, hence by not staying abreast of the technological revolution they have lost the interest of a vast majority of our youth. Many plays still follow the same old Edicts, making it impossible to pique the interest of anyone further than your average theatre goers or thespians. Those few performances that do scorch our memories are the ones that display outstanding acting, scripts, or remind us of a time past through their use of strong physically based characters, less reliant on text. Much of this rises from the fact that no- where in the public sector are we invited to enter a social environment (Similar to a club or restaurant) where we are invited to not only observe but also participate entirely in its pure, undeveloped, improvised forms. There is not a space for people to enjoy the arts at their leisure (without exorbitant prices and or the structure of lessons that have to be paid for in advance.). If such a venue or space was available then theatre as we know it would undoubtedly evolve into a hybrid, yet immensely more powerful and far reaching form. (For as we know only experimentation breeds developmental change. It seems somewhat preposterous that within all this hype that has been developed in regards to electronic music, film and recently the circus. (Cirque de Solei). As entertainment artists, we are failing to utilize three of the most influential elements when dealing with our audience. Firstly, the stimulation of the intellect could be introduced through complex weavings of multimedia throughout the performance. This could be introduced as both reflections of the music or performance as well as Brechtian offsets, contrasting the performance. Secondly, many dance parties, plays and live music acts neglect the strongest form of communication, touch. What if this space or performance developed the concept of deep physically characterized characters, which interacted completely with the audience, whilst adorned in fantasy inspired costumes? (Remember, they can do anything for films these days.) A Performance resembling and utilizing elements of Film, Electronic a, Music, the Theatre and The Circus. Thirdly, what is to stop us, as performers from enabling the audience to experience our performances through all of their senses, not just two of them?
The most feasible conglomeration, would be to turn a music act into a multi sensory piece of theatre. Something that here to forth has not been explored effectively. Even Cirque de Soleil although highly successful have still let themselves down by neglecting to satisfy the senses.

 An “Electronic Orchestra of the Senses”
 “Dance Party to Delight”
 “Theatre of the Evolved”
Ideally all of this could be developed within a defined space which could also be used as an Entertainment Club, an area with rooms or space for live music, theatre, painting, improvisation, set/ costume design and Mask designing, film studios, edit suites, Jam rooms, philosophy spaces (With incredibly comfortable furniture). The potential in regards to décor within such a space is limitless. The lighting essential.

The final evolution would be to remove all of the musicians from the orchestra pit to spaces which instead, surrounded the audience. Musicians in grated over holes in the ground, in Gallows nests hanging over the heads of the audience. This would also mean that interactions between the musicians and the audience would be able to interact, the musicians heckling the audience.
Seemingly the only real setback arises from the fact that at the moment, it is all still the beginnings of an idea, in order for it to be successful there needs to be quality. Quality music, quality storylines and images and characters. Essentially it is a strong plan even if it means years of work.

Elena Kaye Morton October 1st 2003