I am a very fortunate lady, and someone I know gave me free tickets to see a show at The Goodman last night. A Tennessee Williams play, nonetheless. Everyone knows that name, and many are familiar with "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof," and other works of his. If asked to make a general statement about his work, I might say something to the effect of "Williams has a tendency to make things uncomfortable... sex, arguments, and all the stuff we all try to sweep under the rug or turn a blind eye to. He tends to yank people out of their comfort zones, and do it all with a splash of class, and southern grace." Err... you get the idea. I hope.
Anyway, my main point is that I was not expecting, by any means, that I would be seeing a show that lacked sex, scandal, arguments, or any of that good, down home southern hullabaloo. I wasn't expecting to see a show that would be hilarious and lift my spirits. That being said, I also wasn't expecting to see a show that caused people to walk out!
The show did manage to shock me in places, but I never considered walking out. That being said, some audience members were pretty obvious about their lack of appreciation for the show and it's content. I'll give you this: it's graphic. It's very sexual, and there is blood and violence. It's not all
easy to watch, but I also don't know why art
has to settle well with anyone. Observe. Take it in. Judge if you want to. That is what it's there for. Expression. To make a statement. For you to potentially draw your own conclusions. I think it's good to get uncomfortable. It's a great way to learn and grow. How do we move forward if we stay in the zone of safety and comfort?
I'd like to know which portions of the play lose the highest number of audience members each performance. I think that would be fascinating to find out.
Let me boil it down as best I can from my perspective. Did I love the show? No. That being said, the scenery, lighting, etc were all amazing. I cannot imagine the production value of this show! Crazy, crazy, beautiful things were happening. Am I likely to ever see the show again? No, probably not. Am I in an uproar about it? Not even close, but lots of patrons seemingly were. It's a play with no storyline. Add sex and homosexuality AND violence to that, and it's a tough pill for lots of people to swallow. It's seemingly a show about nothing and everything all at once. It would seem as though the concept is: Anything can mean anything to anyone. Make of it what you will. Inception.
One of my favorite lines from the show: "If you can't be yourself, what is the point of being?"
I think people don't love shows that make them think or draw their own conclusions. Life is like that. Everyone wants answers
given to them. It's not realistic. I didn't love the show, but I don't think it lacks validity. It takes guts to write something unique. It takes guts to perform or direct something that you know the masses might not love or understand. There is value in that. Never underestimate the work that goes into a performance (or anything else for that matter), and take it for granted. As an actor, I can promise you that we don't do it for the money... because there is no money in being an actor if you aren't a star or starlet. Very few actors make it big. So much hard work, so many hours, so much labor and love goes into performing. We do it for the craft. We do it because it speaks to us, makes us happy (or even whole). Just keep that in mind when you go to see a play... before you walk out because you don't love it... Remember that to someone, this is their life, their love, and their art. Thousands of hours go into a production between concept meetings, rehearsals, building sets and costumes, designing the lights, cleaning the theatre, and so much more.
I digress. I apologize for the tangent. Sorry.
Just because I love you, I leave you with a photo of myself pretending to be scandalized outside of the theatre after the show. You're welcome.
(I kid)
Oh! And here is the link to the show on The Goodman's website if you'd like somewhat of a synopsis or perhaps even ticket information! Because patrons of the theatre are sexy and everyone loves them. True story.
, is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. As Pi starts out with 3.14, Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14th.