Robert Cohen - Theatre, Brief Version-McGraw-Hill Education (2016)

16 Chapter 1 What Is Theatre?
(on one occasion, a famous New York restaurant was
completely disassembled and reconstructed on a stage,
complete with its original moldings, wallpaper, furniture,
silverware, and table linens). At times the representational
ideal so dominated in certain theatres that actors spoke with
their backs to audiences, directors encouraged pauses and
inaudible mumblings—the way we all “really” talk—playwrights
transcribed dialogue from fragments of randomly
overheard conversations, and house managers timed intermissions
to the presumed time elapsing in the play’s story.
Rebelling against this extreme representationalism,
the twentieth-century German playwright-director
Bertolt Brecht created its opposite: a more presentational
style that, by seeking to appeal directly to the audience
on a variety of social and political issues, featured openly
visible lighting instruments; signs, songs, slide projections,
and speeches addressed directly to the audience;
and a “distanced” style of acting intended to reduce emotional
empathy or theatrical “magic.”
No play can ever be completely representational or presentational,
however. During naturalistic performances,
we are always aware that we are watching actors perform
for us, and the plays of Brecht and his followers, despite
his theories, generate empathy when well performed. The
fact is that theatrical performance is always both presentational
and representational, though to different degrees.
Two other aspects of performance distinguish theatre
from certain other forms of performance: theatre is
live performance, and in most cases it is a scripted and
rehearsed event.
Live Performance In contrast to movies, the theatre is
a real-time event in which performers and audience members
are fully aware of the other’s immediate presence. The
awareness of spectators can give performers an adrenaline
charge and a magical feeling of responding and listening
in the moment. Because theatre is live, it is like a conversation
in a silent language: actors can feel the audience’s
energy and audiences can feel the actors’ focus. Everyone
in the theatre is breathing the same air; all are involved, at
the same time and in the same space. Actors often speak
of the “energy” of the audience—the imperceptible way
Bryan Cranston has appeared in over 200 movies and TV shows and episodes, including his great starring role in TV’s
Breaking Bad, and has won literally dozens of acting awards. So it was not a surprise that in his first Broadway role
he scored the 2014 “Best Performance in a Leading Role in a Play” Tony Award for playing President Lyndon Johnson
in Robert Schenkkan’s All The Way. More recently, he went back before the camera to recreate the Johnson role for
television; he is shown here in his initial American Repertory Theatre premiere, with Betsy Aidem playing his stage wife,
Lady Bird. Bill Rauch directed. © Photo by Evgenia Eliseeva for the American Repertory Theater