Laughter and merriment
It has been a wonderful evening.
At about seven, I hiked across campus to bear witness to my friends performing in a production of Antony and Cleopatra-- but truthfully, "participate" is probably more like it.
The performance took place in a large space, and there were only about two dozen of us audience members-- but the arena was what made it worth it. The play was performed on five different platforms circling a large open area in which the audience stood for the entire duration of the performance. We were encouraged to occupy the space in whatever way felt comfortable to us, and indeed many of the scenes took place in the midst of the gathered crowd.
It was freakin' amazing, it really was, being right in the middle of the play as it was going on. Sure, it was a strain on the usual conceptions of the audience-performer relationship, but nobody abused it, and in all honesty I really felt compelled by being in the middle of the action. Several of my friends were standing there in the crowd beside me during scenes in which they weren't performing. It really was... Well, it was a unique setup, and it made me think very much that I would like to participate in a performance like that from the other side of things-- that is to say, I would like to act in such a performance.
Sorry if I'm being a little bit repetitive or if my narrative is floundering in its flow-- I'm somewhat inebriated, because I spent several hours in the Ram Bar carousing with the castmembers after the performance. God, I really feel included, I feel loved, I feel like I have friends-- something which is not new at Exeter, but which is a little bit rare.
Sometimes I worry about the influence alcohol has had on me this year. It's true that I enjoy a good night of carousing, and I truly appreciate the feeling I get after a few pints, a feeling which brings on euphoria-- I become overwhelmed by the wonderful people I am surrounded by. I cannot help but break out in a course of drunken laughter. Ha! I say, Ha! I am in the company of good people, and I am having a good time!
It's not something I've made a habit of, but I intend to continue it in the few precious weeks I have left to me.
Tomorrow (well, truthfully, in about five hours) we leave for Stratford, to watch Ms. Liza run in her marathon, and though it will cost me significant poundage I am totally willing-- it shall be a wonderful outing, and I may even be home in time to carouse once more with the friends I have made here.
Theater people-- they truly are the best people. They are.
I miss the theater people from back home. Know that my return is imminent, and shall be glorious. Even now I am inspired to euphoria-- onward, to my return! To the glorious summer! And to the friendships which shall last a lifetime! To the reunion that, like planets aligning in the heavens, shall harken unto a new age-- an age in which heroes shall stand side by side and face a terrible, beautiful, uncertain future, and triumph!
At about seven, I hiked across campus to bear witness to my friends performing in a production of Antony and Cleopatra-- but truthfully, "participate" is probably more like it.
The performance took place in a large space, and there were only about two dozen of us audience members-- but the arena was what made it worth it. The play was performed on five different platforms circling a large open area in which the audience stood for the entire duration of the performance. We were encouraged to occupy the space in whatever way felt comfortable to us, and indeed many of the scenes took place in the midst of the gathered crowd.
It was freakin' amazing, it really was, being right in the middle of the play as it was going on. Sure, it was a strain on the usual conceptions of the audience-performer relationship, but nobody abused it, and in all honesty I really felt compelled by being in the middle of the action. Several of my friends were standing there in the crowd beside me during scenes in which they weren't performing. It really was... Well, it was a unique setup, and it made me think very much that I would like to participate in a performance like that from the other side of things-- that is to say, I would like to act in such a performance.
Sorry if I'm being a little bit repetitive or if my narrative is floundering in its flow-- I'm somewhat inebriated, because I spent several hours in the Ram Bar carousing with the castmembers after the performance. God, I really feel included, I feel loved, I feel like I have friends-- something which is not new at Exeter, but which is a little bit rare.
Sometimes I worry about the influence alcohol has had on me this year. It's true that I enjoy a good night of carousing, and I truly appreciate the feeling I get after a few pints, a feeling which brings on euphoria-- I become overwhelmed by the wonderful people I am surrounded by. I cannot help but break out in a course of drunken laughter. Ha! I say, Ha! I am in the company of good people, and I am having a good time!
It's not something I've made a habit of, but I intend to continue it in the few precious weeks I have left to me.
Tomorrow (well, truthfully, in about five hours) we leave for Stratford, to watch Ms. Liza run in her marathon, and though it will cost me significant poundage I am totally willing-- it shall be a wonderful outing, and I may even be home in time to carouse once more with the friends I have made here.
Theater people-- they truly are the best people. They are.
I miss the theater people from back home. Know that my return is imminent, and shall be glorious. Even now I am inspired to euphoria-- onward, to my return! To the glorious summer! And to the friendships which shall last a lifetime! To the reunion that, like planets aligning in the heavens, shall harken unto a new age-- an age in which heroes shall stand side by side and face a terrible, beautiful, uncertain future, and triumph!
posted by Nate at 6:51 PM
2 Comments:
I think of all the theatre people I know, perhaps four of them could qualify as "the best people." Perhaps theatre people have great potential. I wouldn't say they were the best people. Not unless you paid me a good deal of money. I find most of them vain and/or generally unpleasant. Insecure. Magnetic to drama as much offstage as on.
Theatre people are not the best people.
Maybe it's more accurate to say theater people are the only "type" of people with whom I feel any kind of kinship-- it's the sense of being an active storyteller that I identify with, that I crave, in other people.
You're right, Sebastian, about them wanting drama onstage as well as off-- but I'm the same way, and I recognize it. I look for passion, intensity, purpose, drive.
I really feel as though the vast majority of humanity is unable to comprehend the way I perceive the world, and only around theater kids do I get the sensation that maybe, they might understand.
Post a Comment
<< Home