WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF THE THEATRE?
Is the theatre in danger? Since every time the people, the dramatists,
the actors… are asking for the future of the theatre. The theatre always
exists, and it has suffered an evolution; but is this the moment when this
evolution will stop? This question has a difficult answer.
The theatre has his origin in the Old Greek, where there were dances and
chorus that paid tribute to the god Dionysius. In the Middle Age the
performances were made into churches paying tribute to God (representations of
religious mysteries, The Christmas…). Later, in the Renaissance, the theatre
was an historical theatre, based in real facts. Moreover, the theatre was
suffering an evolution to the reality. But at the end of the century XIX, took
place a movement in front of the reality. In that time, the plays were though
as mites, and they represented an ideal world. More lately, in the new century
up to now, the theatre reflected and represents the reality. The plays were
based in the reality, because the people wanted to know what was happening; and
nowadays the people want the same. In this century appear new elements in the
theatre like the illumination and mechanical elements. Also new theatre
movements like the “Theatre of the Absurd”, “The Futurism”, “The Dadaism”… took
place in the scene.
<Microsoft
Encarta 2003>
<Enciclopedia Gran Larousee Universal.
Ed.Plaza y Janes, 1979>
These days the people want to have realism in their plays. They love the
performances of the reality. They want the hardest realism that could be
represented. We know that the theatre is not the reality, but the people
discover one way to see the reality, and furthermore, they discover one way to
contemplate the life.
[Los Nuevos Caminos del Teatro. El
secreto del teatro del Siglo XX. Ed. Roger Mirza. 2005. 5 Jan.2006]
http://dramateatro.fundacite.arg.gov.ve/ensayos/n_0005/sigloxx.html
In one hand, we have a lot of troubles that put the theatre in danger.
One problem is that the people think that the cinema and some TV programs are
more real than the theatre (I am against this position because I think that the
reality transmitted by the actor of theatre face to face with the public is
insurmountable). In my opinion, one
possible solution to this problem could be the rise of the offers regarding
theatre performances. Like this all people could find plays of their
preference. And this could make that more people would prefer to pay for the theatre. Other problem of the theatre is the
lack of publicity. A lot of people do not know about theatre because there is
not enough information about it. For example, in some TV programs there are
spaces about the hoarding of the week in the cinema, but there are not spaces
about the theatre. The third problem that we can enumerate is the price of the
performances. In the cinema the price is cheaper, but in the theatre the price
is more expensive, and for some people (for example the students) is too much
expensive (16€). Other problem that we can emphasize is the location of the
theatres. The cinemas are more common because in a lot of places there are
cinemas, like into the majority of the leisure centres, in some important
streets… (for example, in my village, a little town near
I have found one opinion that I think that is common in the theatre world.
Albert Boadella (who is a writer,
actor and a theatre director), has said: “El
teatro de hoy se ha vuelto muy sofisticado, de diseño. El teatro de hoy se
resiente del mismo mal que afecta al conjunto de las artes. Se construyen
nuevos teatros pero, como ritual de la verdad, el arte dramático ha perdido su
potencial. […]. Se luce un bonito envoltorio, hay un
buen diseño pero sin sustancia profunda”.
[“Boadella
teatraliza la pérdida de valores quijotescos”. Ed. EFE. El Día digital de Córdoba. Ed. Grupo Joly. 2005. 11 Jan 2006].
[“Pienso mucho
en recoger los trastos e irme de Cataluña”. Ed. Pablo Bujalance. Málaga hoy. Ed. Grupo Joly. 2005. 11 Jan
2006].
http://www.diariomalagahoy.com
1- “Today’s the theatre has gone very
sophisticated, of design. Today’s the theatre deteriorates itself of the same
illness that affects all the arts. New theatres are built but, as a ritual of
the truth, the dramatic art has lost its potential. […]. A pretty wrapper is
shined, there’s a good design without deep substance”.
These things make us to think that the theatre is going to go to the
decadence. But a new theatre era is opening in presence of us. A great group of
innovations are used in the theatre to make it shines again. These innovations
are, for instance, the incorporation into the theatre of special effects and
news technologies in the performances. Today there are a lot of plays, or the
majority of these ones, which use special effects that are made using a
computer as sounds, special illuminations… and other effects. Moreover there
are a lot of investigations in new technologies and new effects for the
theatre, which can make the plays more interesting and more realists. These
elements change the theatre, making it modern and are used to motivate this
art. But these new technologies make more expensive the price of the
performances. For that, it could be a good solution, but also could be a
problem.
[Playbill.
http://www-ksl.stanford.edu/projects/cait/playbill.html
In addition, these days the theatre is very social. It has been marked
by the socio-cultural and political context every time (in the past and now).
The theatre has told the problems of the world and nowadays this aspect of the
theatre is also treated. The theatre is a good tool for criticizing the world
and the people in some aspects and a lot of authors make theatre using it. I
think that in the future this type of theatre could be very common. But in the
other side, I think that there will be other important type of theatre instead
this position: the comic theatre. This funny theatre will serve to forgetting
the problems that the people will have day after day.
In other hand, there is other interesting offer for the future theatre.
It is the theatre online. There are some proposals that defend to make plays
online. It is a good proposal that can increase the audience of the theatre,
because the people could see the plays in their houses and it can be a good
solution for some well-off people. But I can’t compare the reality of the
performances in a theatre with these plays, because in the theatre each play is
unique, and the characters transmit a lot of reality to the auditorium. But I
applaud this proposal if it helps the continuity of the theatre.
[Playbill.
http://www-ksl.stanford.edu/projects/cait/playbill.html
In this paper, we can see that the theatre has a lot of new proposals
that want to motivate this art, and for that, the art of the theatre is going
to suffer a new era. But the question is:
is it the solution? I do not know the answer, because the theatre needs
time, and when the theatre suffers these proposals and the time passes, we will
see what the future of the theatre is. To sum up, I have one think in mind: the
theatre is an art that has always been in the world, and it is going to
continue here, because there are a lot of people that love the theatre, and
these people are going to do all the things that they can do for the theatre.
One thing that I emphasize is that the theatre needs more publicity, and it
needs to be instilled into the young people and in this way, they will want to
go to the theatre.
REFERENCES
-Microsoft
Encarta 2003.
-Enciclopedia
Gran Larousee Universal, Plaza y Janes, 1979.
-http://dramateatro.fundacite.arg.gov.ve/ensayos/n_0005/sigloxx.html
-
http://www.eldiadecordoba.com