Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Seeing the unseeable.

"In its essence, all [theatre] requires is an actor, two planks, and a passion; and at a pinch, it does not need the two planks."

Thinking back on all the plays I've seen-- not only Rampart productions but You Can't Take It With You, As You Like It, Monty Python, and other professional productions-- it's hard to imagine seeing these plays without the lights, extraodinary sets, soundtracks and special effects. It's almost as if the play wouldnt BE a play without these elements.

But if you had to ask me what the most important element of theatre is, I would say the actor. An actor can transform words into action, pictures into scene. They have the power to capture an audience, inhabit any character they wish. Only through the actor's movement, voice, expressions, actions, and words can the audience feel the true joy, pain, or intensity of a scene.

It is the actor who lets us see the unseeable.

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