Dear BJJA:
Of course. And while we are at it lets have all theatre amplified as
well so we can have ear to ear talk in bed and Hamlets soliloquy can
be whispered and, while we are at it lets have all plays done with
individual video cameras and composite screens that allow the
audience to see just lips or eyes. In other words why not convert
all of theatre, musical as well as other forms into electronic media
time. Everything like a rock concert. Finally who needs to come
see. It can all be viewed at home. We will go to the theatre or the
musical primarily to enjoy each other as audience and the stage work
can be so loud and so fast and so flashy that we can ignore it except
when the audience conversation lulls.
But I, for one, like theatre of any kind to emphasize the humanness
of being heard and understood and seen with as little amplification
of any facet as possible except that which is provided by the effects
of theatre itself. Thus lights, costumes, action, sound effects etc.
are all forms of amplification; that is, they emphasize so that what
theatre is saying is brought forward. But this might be done in the
dark, with little costuming and a more inner action than outer and
the only sound that of the attentive audience breathing. Theatre
does not need electronics to create music and colors and volume. All
this is available to the well trained and artistic actor. And to add
these effects beyond that which the actor can create is to reduce the
primary agent of theatre to little more than a necessary puppet.
Electronic amplification has its place in theatre but, at present, it
is being used to gloss over a lot of poor acting and singing which
would improve immeasurable if the singer/actor we required to "do it
on his own".
--
Lloyd W. Hanson
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