MY OWN VIEW OF THE FUTURE OF THE THEATRE

In this paper I am going to talk about the theatre nowadays and my point of view of what the theatre will be in the near future.

Theatre is an art. It starts as a complement of religious celebrations, and was used for promulgate political ideals and to diffuse propaganda to large groups of people. Throughout history it has developed its activity on three levels at the same time: as popular entertainment, as an important public activity and as art for the elite or upper class.

We know that theatre has got periods of time that theatre was very important for all social classes, for example Shakespeare’s time (as we can check in a John Madden’s film: “Shakespeare in love”). People do not have another better entertainment than going to the theatre to see comedies, love stories, etc. And at the same time the upper classes pay to have theatre representations for them. It was a very interesting art for all people. In other ages, more recently, theatre was seen as an art to upper classes, because people from low classes could not spend, their money or their time, because they had to work to nourish their families. Its society was very poor. Nowadays people go to the theatre very young, starting as children, when teachers take us to the local representations and afterwards to the theatres. I think culture is very important, theatre is a good way to foment culture, people come into contact with different topics of life having fun or a good time.

Authors write their texts according to their context, that is to say, there are some influences on their societies that influence them when they write a play. I think politics, social development, economic cycles, wars, terrorism, natural disasters, popular movements, etc, influence the plays markedly. For example, the play “The Kitchen” by Arnold Wesker shows the life of the majority of people, they have to work a lot because war has destroyed society, they have to protect their properties to live in reasonable conditions. These influences affect the author negatively, or on the other hand, the author omits these influences to animate and arouse happiness on their faces, to make people forget all their problems. I think that other influences or tendencies can influence the writer positively, musical tendencies for example When a kind of music becomes popular, the writer can introduce some musical parts in the play, it shows that this play has something different or new that the others do not.

Nowadays people look for new kinds of theatre. The Musical has become popular in recent years because it is a different way to see a play, the characters sing, and the songs form part of the dialogue. A lot of people are interested in theatre, in seeing it and playing a part in it. People that say they can not go to theatre are wrong, because in a lot of towns there is a little theatre or the theatre companies go from town to town showing its plays. See a theatre representation is not difficult.

Remember that theatre is an art, and the actors are artists. We have to value the effort that they make on the stage, they have to transform themselves into another person with another character and with another kind of life, generally, and the difficulty of performing in live when a group of people is watching and listening is very difficult. Nowadays actors are prepared to face this. Why am I saying this? Because as opposed to poetry and narrative, theatre is written to be performed, also to be read, but principally to be performed. If theatre needs to be performed someone has to do it. These are the actors. We have to value their work because if they do not perform theatre, this literary genre would disappear little by little, and that would be a disaster. If theatre disappears an enormous world would disappear too.

My opinion about the future of the theatre is that people have to appreciate it, they have to appreciate the task of the actors too, because the actors are the tool for which the theatre goes on. Theatre has to innovate, has to become nearer to people, present plays that make people interested. I think that the theatre would not disappear but it would have less importance in society if we did not participate in going to see the plays and be interested in it. There are some arts that are in the same situation because people nowadays are very comfortable, they only have to switch on the television. We have to take part in literature and, in this case, in theatre because it is an art to be showed, we can read it but a representation of a play is unique. We can see perfectly how the characters are. I really wish that theatre was present in our lives. It is an amazing way to enjoy literature and experiences that theatre can show us. I realised that theatre is spectacular, it is a spectacular art. Theatre must be present in our lives and it must continue to be enjoyed more and more.

I have seen “Shakespeare in Love” and it helps me to realise that theatre was an important part of life in other times.