Re: RAT Hope

[nick <nick@nickspix.com>]

At 09:57 PM 3/30/99 EST, Thinksoho@aol.com wrote:
>I'd love to read a copy of the local play called "Bait".    Once again we see
>that theatre is in-itself a neutral medium, and that its meaning is entirely
>dependent on content and context.
>
>Did anyone know that March 27 was World Theater day?  Why am I always the
last
>to hear about these things?
>
>R.
>
>

The press release from the National Theater that spawned this
Reuters/Variety non-story is obviously a piece of state propaganda.  But I
don't understand what reader they are trying to reach with it?  I know
there are many empty headed theater people throughout the world, but how
could they possibly help Belgrade in their ethnic cleansing?  And one state
theater more or less, isn't going to make or break their cause.

But this "World Theater day" is another thing.  Whether it exists or not,
either way, it's definitely a nice touch of absurdity.

I don't ever think of theater as a medium.  It's an unmediated art form
whose essence is "presence."  Theater's greatest action will always be the
simple presence of the actor within the presence of an audience. 

Erik's counsel at the last Conference was that one should always weigh the
value of theater against other forms of action one could take.  For
instance, the production of a play about the devastation of a virus such as
AIDS should not be judged against some other play or production, but
against the value of actually producing a serum for that virus. 

But if that is good counsel, is this also: 

The production of a play about how Albanian intellectuals are being
targeted and murdered in Kosovo should not be judged against some other
play or production, but against the value of gunrunning to the KLA rebels.

Finding serum for the ever present social stigmas is the impossible task of
theater.  The doctor's maxim is "First, do no harm."    Theater as
entertainment could share that dictum, but the rest will have to be as real
and as unsure as other actions in life. 

The Pope is trying to stop the bombing on Easter.  So why doesn't he drive
his PopeMobile into Kosovo?  And of course I'm serious.

One image I have is of the Pope and the crowds that gather around him as he
does his Pope wave and blessing.  The other image is of archival footage of
Hitler heiling up his crowd of countrymen.  But neither is real.  The only
reality is those lines of refugees with no place to gather.  

Pope Theater is just as evil as Hitler Theater because Pope Theater
pretends its non-action is an effective counter to Hitler Theater.