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My manifesto for theatre is based on the new role that theatre carries out in our new society. This is mainly based on the assumption that, the people who regularly go to the theatre purely for their own entertainment are dying of old age. So given that medical science reaches the point of keeping pensioner alive indefinitely , then the future of theatre is safe, along as the they can afford the T loop hearing aid system and the Mass Kidney dialysis machine.
Otherwise theatre needs to compete with the dreaded television and cinema which is capable of a perfect performance every time without keep those annoying actor happy and on the payroll. Also with the added bonus of being able to be ‘performed’ in million of places simultaneously.
So if theatre wants to compete with television it needs to cash in on the things that it can do that the television and cinema can’t these shortlist as:
§ Provide a group mentality.
§ Enable the audience to participate and be part of the show.
§ Watch something fantastic and not just dismiss it as camera tricks.
§ Watching your friends perform.
§ A performance which reacts to the audience.
§ The ability to boast to people that you’ve seen them live.
§ A much higher chance that you might get to have sex with the performers.
I believe that theatre needs to entertain, to me it is simply a question of supply and demand, people are less likely to pay to be educated or even inspired ( sad isn’t it ).
As Alexander Warn once said “Pantomimes … are tacky , shoddy, ego-driven nonsense … just a vehicle for useless soap-stars and ailing pop singers to make cheap buck” (Aspects of Warnian theatre, pp 1) However as tacky, shoddy and ego driven as it is, it is still a successful form of theatre light hearted entertaining and full of famous sexy people.
So theatre needs to be more hands on more like a combination of comedy club, your local pub and strip joint. My style of theatre would invite the audience to be involved with the show and then reacts to their desires. It would be more brechtian but without the attempt to educate just attempting to give them what they want. Stages would need to be more intimate and actors would have to be a lot more talented / skilled they need to have the wit and speed of a stand up with the manipulation skills of a used cars salesman and the acting skills of a actor (a good one) . Therefore I predict their won’t be that much theatre in the future. Theatre will be as more than before motivated by making money (this generally covers the why, whats the point and is it worth it).