Thursday, October 18, 2007

Theatre's Erotic

I'm always coming back to Elvis singing "A little less conversation, a little more action, please."

To quote Anne Bogart:

"Art, like life, is understood through experience, not explanations. As theatre artists, we cannot create an experience for an audience; rather, our job is to set up the circumstances in which an experience might occur."

I'm currently reading her essay on Eroticism and its relation to theatre. My heart is pounding.

One of the main reasons I'm attracted to the world of theatre is the mystery ... the feeling of what's next. I'm in a relationship with the art form that I don't want to leave because it's always exciting me, it keeps answers from me, it flirts with me, it delights me, it destroys me ... it has an energy and a power that can not be trifled with. It doesn't talk too much and when it's getting too heady, I often shut it out because I'm finding it's becoming dull and tedious. I choose to go too shows that keep me quiet afterwards because the experience was so personal, I feel it will cheapen my memory if I burden it down with words.

Here's another quote from the essay that I really like:

"A theatre critic once suggested that the American fear of art is actually a puritanical fear of the sexual encounter. But erotic tension between the stage and the beholder is part of what makes the theatre experience so attractive. The theatre is a place where it is possible to meet one another in an energetic space unmediated by technology. The sensory stimulation allowed in theatre, authorized by its very form, allows the corporeal imagination to exercise itself."

What stops you in your tracks? What makes you gasp in anticipation? What consistently turns you on? What changes you forever? You don't need to answer on your own blog, if you don't want to, nor do you need to answer it here ... again, your words might cheapen your feelings and dull theatre's energy down. For the sake of all things erotic, please don't do that.

As I mentioned a couple of blogs ago, sometimes I need to shut the computer off and reestablish my relationship with my favorite subject, theatre. I don't like the distractions of long-winded blogs trying to pick apart what I like to consider mysterious and exotic. If I wanted to be a scientist where I just had to prove hypotheses over and over again, I would have gone into that field ... but I like the in-between places, the moments that quicken my heart, the moments that warm my brain with images and sensory experiences.

Over analyzing is a major drag and turnoff sometimes.

Keep me in suspense. Keep me in the dark. Keep me asking what's next. Surprise me.


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