day two
now onto the interesting part of the production for me. It's minor, but I'm still thinking about it.
There appeared to be audience members seated ON the stage, on either side. THe actors moved in and out between the playing space and seats in and among these seated folks. Since this is a phenomenon that hasn't really been seen since the late 18th Century, I'm curious why it's being resurrected. THey weren't dressed up fancy - in fact, back-up singers were dressed in jeans and T-shirts, ostensibly to blend in; did they know they'd be sitting on stage? (Oh, probably, I bet). Were the masses of bodies there to create a sense of the dominant societal order, perhaps as a looming mass of Others against which these young bodies could rebel? Were they simply a body filter, to help the actors moving out of the acting space to quickly disappear?
I don't know. This is something I'm musing on. Moreover, I wonder if subsequent productions of other shows might be inspired by this staging technique and start bringing the audience back on stage? It'll be interesting to see - is the audience going to be put back into the spectacle of theatre? Will we raise the house lights again?
hmmmm
There appeared to be audience members seated ON the stage, on either side. THe actors moved in and out between the playing space and seats in and among these seated folks. Since this is a phenomenon that hasn't really been seen since the late 18th Century, I'm curious why it's being resurrected. THey weren't dressed up fancy - in fact, back-up singers were dressed in jeans and T-shirts, ostensibly to blend in; did they know they'd be sitting on stage? (Oh, probably, I bet). Were the masses of bodies there to create a sense of the dominant societal order, perhaps as a looming mass of Others against which these young bodies could rebel? Were they simply a body filter, to help the actors moving out of the acting space to quickly disappear?
I don't know. This is something I'm musing on. Moreover, I wonder if subsequent productions of other shows might be inspired by this staging technique and start bringing the audience back on stage? It'll be interesting to see - is the audience going to be put back into the spectacle of theatre? Will we raise the house lights again?
hmmmm