Enter a spectator : a dialogue on the theatre and its opposite

Abstract

It is true that in the theatre there is a tendency for spectacle and spectator to fuse. But the spectacle remains on the stage and the spectator remains on his seat. No natter how close the seat is to the stage, the spectator is always far away from the spectacle. It is true, there is an attraction between then but it always stops short of fusion. It is also interesting to note that spectacle and spectator come closest in the case of cinema and television and not in the case of theatre. But this closeness is illusion. The spectator is tricked into feeling close to the spectacle, a part of it alrnost, he illudes himself that he is somehow participating in a real event. I am not for this kind of closeness. I am not for the illusion of participation in a spectacle disguised as a real event. I am for the fusion and destruction of spectacle and spectator. In short I am not for theatre; neither pure nor impure.