Readings for 8/27

"...all people have both the ability and the right to be active makers of art." -Babbage

I can definitely dig on that. It's very...Godspell.

So, for Boal, "spectator" is a bad word. For Boal, a "spectator" is just a warm body with a big open mouth, consuming whatever propaganda falls into it. Which is kind of terrifying, really. And I have to say that it's moments and thoughts like these that make me want to take a step back and realize that we, as human beings, are totally incapable of being hyper-aware and super-conscientious all the time. There are just too many stimuli, and things move far too quickly. Now, if we all had the bleakness and endless time that happens in Beckett plays, then by all means we could monitor our every thought and every intake. If we were in a Beckett play, though, I doubt we'd give a rat's ass.

Since we don't like "spectator," Boal coins "spect-actor," which is a person who works within and without of the group. A multi-zoom camera of aesthetic distance and emotional proximity. This keeps them from the danger of living vicariously through characters/scenarios/scenes in Aristotelian-style drama. According to Boal, Aristotle tried to reinforce proper citizen behavior in his audiences--something like a Greek after-school special. Having recently re-read The Poetics, I can tell you that in The Aristotle Show, women are stupid and never virtuous. So due to the equipment I came out of the factory with, I'm already ill-fated and non-compliant.

I will say this: I never knew before that an aristocratic, royal-born hero's "tragic flaw" could just be ignorance--that nobody ever let him in on some divine joke.

Here's the thing, though. It feels like Boal is policing and shaming and casting aspersions at all other forms of theatre. I DO agree that, as artists, we treat theatre like an inaccessible kind of mysticism. This is, of course, ridiculous and ill-mannered. However, to totally invalidate long-standing conventions and norms of theatre in one fell swoop seems a little terrifying. I don't know if I want to live in a world where going to see a flashy musical once in a while leaves me feeling guilty and capitalist and like some cog of a corporate machine. Sometimes, I just want to have a nice dinner, get a little boozy, and watch some awesome synchronized dancing with glitzy costumes and more gels than sitcoms from the mid-90s.