So where to now?
Thu, 24 Feb 2005, 01:48 amWalter Plinge23 posts in thread
So where to now?
Thu, 24 Feb 2005, 01:48 amThere has been some discussion on this forum of late that arises out of the current poll. I think that is a highly important subject and one which has to be addressed.
It seems that theatre as a form of entertainment and a means by which people converge together and socialise is slowly dying. It seems that of late theatre has become in the general publics opinion seen as a pretentious artform meant to be experienced only by those that deem they can afford it. It is sad that often the publics general opinion and the truth of the matter are the complete opposites.
There are many reasons for this taking place, a number of which have been discussed in the other thread. I now want to put it to the wider forum community that something has to be done to counter the situation and it won't happen by accident. The question before us is, how? How do we do this? We must all work together ametuers and professionals alike and for awhile, at least, dispose of our ego's to re-inforce the rocky foundations of Australian theatre.
In short:
There's a problem that i deem needs fixing, how do we fix it?
It seems that theatre as a form of entertainment and a means by which people converge together and socialise is slowly dying. It seems that of late theatre has become in the general publics opinion seen as a pretentious artform meant to be experienced only by those that deem they can afford it. It is sad that often the publics general opinion and the truth of the matter are the complete opposites.
There are many reasons for this taking place, a number of which have been discussed in the other thread. I now want to put it to the wider forum community that something has to be done to counter the situation and it won't happen by accident. The question before us is, how? How do we do this? We must all work together ametuers and professionals alike and for awhile, at least, dispose of our ego's to re-inforce the rocky foundations of Australian theatre.
In short:
There's a problem that i deem needs fixing, how do we fix it?
Re: So where to now?
Thu, 24 Feb 2005, 07:48 pmTheatre has been around for thousands of years - if you count tribal rituals etc - the only difference now is that theatre competes with other forms of entertainment. Instead of competing we should be combining art forms - take new media shows, such as Arena Theatre Company's 'Play Dirty'. The show is about motobiking and stunts, and combined both acting, songs, motobike stunts and multimedia presentations.
Maybe it's just the 'traditional' format of theatre that is out the window, and new styles and combinations of theatre is in. Take puppetry in Australia. In Europe, marionettes are the 'traditional' style. In Asia, shadow puppetry and the Japanese bunraku (a style of rod puppets). When I went to Korea recently, I saw nothing but rod puppets (operated from below) and glove puppets. But Australian puppetry uses a combination of all the concepts, employing bunraku, rod puppets, black light, hand puppets, Muppets, etc. Australia is unique because we can create new forms without having a traditional mind set of what theatre is.
The biggest problem in this discussion is deciding what theatre is. Each of us has a different idea - and that is because we are adept at creating our own traditions.
There's no way it's dying out.
Maybe it's just the 'traditional' format of theatre that is out the window, and new styles and combinations of theatre is in. Take puppetry in Australia. In Europe, marionettes are the 'traditional' style. In Asia, shadow puppetry and the Japanese bunraku (a style of rod puppets). When I went to Korea recently, I saw nothing but rod puppets (operated from below) and glove puppets. But Australian puppetry uses a combination of all the concepts, employing bunraku, rod puppets, black light, hand puppets, Muppets, etc. Australia is unique because we can create new forms without having a traditional mind set of what theatre is.
The biggest problem in this discussion is deciding what theatre is. Each of us has a different idea - and that is because we are adept at creating our own traditions.
There's no way it's dying out.
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