David Blanton- In-Class

In class last Thursday we watched a clip of an interview with a British actor who was sharing his insights on theater and drama. One of the quotes that we honed in on and discussed during the class was a comment he made concerning the audience's participation in the plot. He suggested that one of the fruits of excellent theater is the merging of two plots: that of the play itself and that audience's own personal plot. Such a phenomena occurs most successfully and completely when the audience member has a cathartic experience while watching the play. The actor's observation offers insight into audience participation (v. spectating) in the art of drama. In my own experience seeing and acting in plays I have often observed that people (myself included) want deeply to connect with the play. The audience wants to see itself in the characters and the arc of the story so much so that the performance is often rated by their ability "to connect" with the drama.

There are two things that I would like to draw out from this observation. The first is based on personal experience. I have often found myself trying to deeply to connect with a drama as an audience member that I have actually been distracted by the main action in the play, focusing instead on one or two characters I identify with. I feel myself trying to stitch aspects of my life into the plot of the play. When the connection finally does occur, the British actor would presumably assert that this is the second plot. However, even before that happens in some cases, there is a struggle to find that connection which in and of itself creates an entirely seperate plot from my personal cathartic moment and there is actually a unique arc created by my struggle to connect. Hence, it would seem that the audience's participation can be further divided into 2 plots: the legitimate cathartic experience which influences the trajectory of their own life, and the struggle during the play to connect personally with the drama.

The second is more of a question. Does the audience's tendency to critique plays based on their cathartic connection to the plot indicate a egocentric perspective or art, or does it indicate a natural desire for humanity to want to participate in beauty and art? Perhaps this uniquely happens in theatre because it most closely physically replicates the human experience, drawing out feelings of empathy and community with the art itself as it is being produced.