Why do modern actors and directors love classics?

Hi Spylan

> I think its because they are too gutless to lose money/and or
> their reputation on something risky.

I think some people react with cynicism to companies doing the classics because they're afraid of anything that might ask them to think.

With a very few very notable exceptions, a lot of the New and Different writing and physical performance work i see is tired old trash, not very well thought through, that attempts to reinvent the wheel in blissful ignorance of similar more successful exploratiove work done decades or centuries ago.

I don't have much time for lazy actors, directors and audiences who are seeking the cheap thrill of something different. Sure great work is always somehow new and different, but that is rarely the same thing as asserting that performance that is new and different is always great work.

> That why I don't amateur theatre anymore,I was risking being
> bored to death!!!

Oh puh-lease!

Sure many community theatre companies trot out stale old classics on a regular basis. But perhaps you'd care to cast your eye over the programs of our funded companies and see what proportion of their work is modern or ancient classics? As different parts of the same industry, i don't see that there is that much difference between the proportions of classical and new work performed in either sector.

If anything, there's probably slightly more new work amongst the community theatre companies. They're often in a better position to take the risk of developing brand new work. If they aren't doing it, it's because the people who should be making it happen have thrown their hands to their brows and declared they don't want to play any more and slunk off home - preferring to sit at home bored to death, as resting professionals.

Cheers
Grant