Thought For The Day 19th Jan

Copyright is with the BBC
John Steinbeck said that the theatre is the only institution in the world which has been dying for four thousand years and has never succumbed. Indeed the opposite is the case and audiences are on the up.

Not only was it reported this week that West End theatre audiences are increasing. The National Theatre also announced more weekly performances to cope with demand, including Sunday Matinees.

What is it about going to the theatre? I know it is not everyone’s cup of tea but it certainly strikes a cord in many people’s lives. Maybe it says something about its compelling depth and relentless quest to understand human nature in all its diversity that it remains such a popular night out?

Just before Christmas I gave myself a treat and went to three musicals in a week: Cabaret, Wicked and Mary Poppins. They ranged from the disappointing to the sublime – but I’d better not tell you which was which! And on each occasion I think it was the priest in me that found myself, at significant moments as the drama unfolded, looking around at the faces of the audience. Faces of all ages reflected the events on stage by a range of reactions, each of which was a story in itself.

Alan Bennett says that he goes to the theatre to be entertained and to be taken out of himself. Unlike movies and the television, theatre, says Shelley Winters, can produce a wonderful deep silence which means that you have actually hit the audience where they live.

This is a skill still to be developed in many places of worship. Finding a wonderful deep silence.

Faith figures prominently in more theatre than we probably care to admit. Spiritual issues addressed on stage confront people with deep questions and unfathomable mysteries right there in front of them. There is a physical aspect to theatre which is immensely spiritual and often deeply painful.

Psychologists might say that many human beings spend much of their lives trying to find out who they really are and what the resulting implications mean for the future. That, of course, is the essence of much theatre. Taking us by the hand, beyond our experience, and confronting us in the flesh with stark realities and challenges. What about our priorities, about love, about overcoming evil; how do we combat jealousy?

With the great Mystery Plays, the Christian church eventually realised that theatre can transform the telling of a well known story. By challenging complacency, reawakening and restoring our spiritual senses, the relationship between actor and audience produces a most astonishing range of insights and perceptions. That’s perhaps why the theatre is rarely a bad night out.