Our readings this week and my thoughts during the concert bring me to that thought "to what end?"
Essentially, the arts are performed for a purpose (including pure aesthetics). Peter Brook thought that the markers of theatre must have an immediate and current impact (a relevant idea conveyed). One of the works from Sunday included a song that was played at the British troops during the Revolutionary War with a purpose (irritate them and enliven the American troops). Today, when we play that song, the question is -- to what end?
Is the classical music experience purely aesthetic? What about other forms of music -- what is their end? What about the mission of an organization? What are the 'ends' of its mission and related programs?
Do you have a sense of the 'should' in your understanding of the means versus the ends of art making?
I think the phrasing of "immediate and current impact" is what makes classical music and other older forms of art seem obsolete. In my opinion, classical music can be regarded as purely aesthetic, but doing so would negate moments in history during which it was suddenly relevant again. This is a fitting (yet terrible) example: Adolf Hitler, during his rise to power as Chancellor of Germany in the early 1930's, did not hide his appreciation for 19th century composer Richard Wagner (who was also antisemitic). Wagner's songs were played at Nazi rallies and soon came to embody the ardent nationalism that rebuilt Germany (and subsequently imprisoned/slaughtered millions of innocent people).
ReplyDeleteThus, I really don't think there is an end to classical music, or other "antiquated" art forms. Anyone with power and creativity (like politicians can latch onto classical forms of art in order to boost their image/influence. I'm sure the closet Tea Party members in the audience liked what Chatham Baroque did - because even though the song belongs to the 1770's, it can still be used out of context with very little justification.
The mission of an organization is different. An organization, like a human being, should have an infinite time on the planet. However, unlike human beings, organizations (nonprofits) exist solely to do purposeful things before they disband.Once the mission is achieved or the programs have done all they can - the nonprofit should fold because there is no need to be met (although honestly I can only think of a few examples of this happening). Art, in contrast, is immortal.
I just stumbled upon a Facebook post by American Theatre magazine that asks "How do you know when a play is "working?" The question itself is interesting in that it implies that a show is supposed to accomplish something. The question is really asking two things. First, it asks what plays are supposed to do. This gets back to our questions about defining success and establishing the intended impact of our work. Second, it asks how we measure the extent to which plays do what they are intended to do.
ReplyDeleteThe responses to this post (below) are also interesting in that they focus primarily on the financial impact of plays (success = covering expenses) and some sort of gut feeling about a play's goodness (success = creating a gut feeling). The first is clearly easy to measure (count the dollars). The second is much harder to measure, and it is equally difficult to define. Everyone involved in a production (artistic staff, cast, audience, etc.) have different guts that are more or less prone to respond to different stimuli. What "works" for one person will not work for another. If we are to rely on this subjective measure of goodness, we need to at lest define for whom we want the production to be good. I don't have any answers here, and as far as I can tell, no one on Facebook does either.
Responses to A.T.'s post:
• When you can feel it.
• As an audience member: Indescribable really...it's a feeling inside. You can't wait to hear the next line, or see the next move. Glued. If I don't feel this within the first 5 minutes, it's hard to win me back.
• When I come home from rehearsals and re-enact scenes in the kitchen! Or, once we get audience in, the audience starts answering the actors back.
• When everyone is drinking
• when it works.
• As a Director - just a feeling. I count on it.
• When the opening number is "See That Building". (rimshot)
• To be honest, a lot of times I don't know. As a stage mgr, I'm too focused on all the details. I find myself telling my friends, "I think this one's a good play. I'm not sure tho. We'll find out on opening night."
• when you feel butterflies at the general rehearsal or almost all last week.
• How do you know when you're breaking a sweat?
• When it unexpectedly tells you, then you realize the magic is happening. Hippie answer #1.
• When you're either in the cast and feel magic happening, or a director/producer/someone else in the seats during rehearsal and you SEE magic happening. It's an evanescent kind of thing. (Facebook still needs italics, damn it).
• You can't.
• It is a feeling. If I'm engaged in the world of the story. Pretty rare.
• You need a bit of distance to tell, so I go by the audience reactions. That is assuming that you mean a play is working for them, not the playwright or artistic director.
• The moment I'm given complete artistic control.
• it's sweaty.
• Ticket sales.
• As an audience member? As a director? As an actor? I don't know how to respond.
• When the actors paint over the flaws? Is this the test now?
• You are moved. Visceral reactions. Changes the way you breathe.
• As a director in the rehearsal process -- it is working when the actors start finding the LITTLE subtext moments and make the connections that turn lines into dialogue into human emotion and life.
• When you make your nut.
• A very fine writer once wrote, "When it scares you to death."
Very interesting. I think the most disturbing life experiences I have had are around those moments when the cast and I (as stage manager) are aware that the show is achieving its theatrical goals (aesthetic or dramaturgical . . . essentially the show's soul is empty), but then the audience LOVES it. How does one measure that 'success'?
ReplyDeleteI like to think that when the artists and the audience are in the 'wo'-- this changed me' condition then a work has done it job. And that can be comedy, musical theatre or drama. Change can be mental, spiritual, creative, . . .