"In its purest form, truth is not a polite tap on the shoulder; it is a howling reproach."
--- Ted Koppel
Is truth always an ice cold bucket of water thrown onto an unsuspecting public? Can truth be a gentle recognition as well? Does a more genteel reaction make the revelation less significant?
Maybe this is where things got tangled up. The reaction to the revelation became more important than what was being revealed.
How many times have I thought something I wrote was good because the audience reaction was immediate rather than contemplative? Or maybe there was no immediate reaction at all, and I thought what I wrote didn't work. (Only to have the reaction come days later, after people thought about it for a while.)
In theater, the delayed reaction is harder to take. I want the applause now. But in publishing, the reaction doesn't have to be immediate because the form is more personal.
Theater is a communal form. If I'm the only one in the audience, I feel odd. The actors will hear me laugh, even it's not a laugh line.
Books are more personal. It's about reaching one person at a time. And I won't see the reaction as easily.
(BTW, I essentially agree with the above quote. And I also think that the reaction to a howling approach can be silence as well.)
Koppel's definition reflects the shift that so much of our culture has taken toward the extreme. Our expectations for theatre outstrip theatre's ability to live up. We want theatre to be transformative -- the change to the spectator should be total and immediate, or else we have failed. This, in turn, affects the form theatre takes. Those who dream of transformation become increasingly abusive and shrill in order to accomplish their goal of transformation; those disappointed idealists who no longer believe in transformation become content with tickling. But the real value of theatre lies somewhere in between, it seems to me, which requires trust, patience, and a belief in the long-term benefits of our work.
Posted by: Scott Walters | February 28, 2007 at 11:55 AM
I thought of you, Scott, when I wrote this entry. It's a different kind of work, this slow transformative type. I think it goes hand-in-hand with "less is more."
Posted by: Laura | February 28, 2007 at 07:56 PM
It does indeed. Perhaps there will be a move toward slow theatre, not unlike the slow food movement.
Posted by: Scott Walters | March 04, 2007 at 07:35 PM