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

Theatre 315
Hannah Vassallo sits atop Dominic Marsh in
this production of the wildly experimental
and continuously entertaining Tristan
& Yseult—an ancient myth—that was
collaboratively created by the British
Kneehigh company and performed at South
Coast Repertory in California on a world
tour in 2015. The play is a mix of song, sex,
and circus, intermixed with farce, fights,
opera and acrobatics—with an onstage
band and white balloons careening
through the audience. © Richard Termine
“amusement,” and so we think immediately of the hilarity
of comedy and farce. Most of the literature regarding
theatrical entertainment concentrates on the pratfalls and
gags that have been part of the comic theatre throughout
its history.
But entertainment goes far beyond humor. Another
definition for entertainment is “that which holds the
attention” (from the French entre [between] and tenir
[to hold], thus “to hold together” or “to bring together”).
This definition casts more light on our question. It means
entertainment includes the enchantment of romance; the
dazzle of brilliant debate, witty epigram, and biting repartee;
the exotic appeal of the foreign and the grotesque;
the beauty and grandeur of spectacle; and the nuance and
crescendo of a musical or rhythmic line.
Entertainment encompasses suspense and adventure,
sex appeal, and the splendor of sheer talent. Finally, of
course, it includes any form of drama that profoundly
stirs our feelings and heightens our awareness of the
human condition. It is no wonder that Hamlet delights
in the performance of tragedians—and that we delight
in Hamlet—for the mixture of ideas, language, poetry,
feelings, and actions that constitute great tragedy confers
one of life’s sublime entertainment experiences. The best
kind of theatre gets us to feel something, and even if—
especially if—that feeling is one of sadness or loss, we
still revel in the thrill of our emotions.
The theatre is a storehouse of pleasures, not only
for the emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic
stimulation it provides, but also for its intrinsic social
excitement. Theatre is a favored public meeting place
for people who care about each other. Your seat number
implies more than a location; it implies companionship
in the theatrical experience. The theatre is a place to
commune in an especially satisfying way with strangers.
When in the course of a dramatic performance we
are gripped by a staging of romantic passion or stunned
by a brilliantly articulated argument or moved by a
touching denouement, the excitement is enhanced by
the fact that we are not alone in these feelings, that possibly
every member of the audience has been stirred
to the same response. Theatre, in its essence, serves to
rescue humankind from an intellectual and emotional
aloneness, and therein lies its most profound “entertainment”
value.
Critical Focus
These five perspectives on the theatre experience—its
social, personal, artistic, theatrical, and entertainment
aspects—can be taken up by all audience members
regardless of their experience or credentials. These are
the five angles from which we view and judge plays,
and place ourselves in a storied history. The judgment of
plays and performances, which has been done formally
since ancient Greek times, continues today through the
well-publicized Tony and Obie awards, Pulitzer Prizes,
and Critics Circle citations. It is one of the fundamental