Take a Bow

I attended a play recently that got me thinking about the relationship between the performer and the audience. I must admit that this had been on my mind as I had often read Robert Fripp’s remarks on live performance and was wondering if the ideas he had expounded held true for theatre. For more on this issue please see just about any of his diary entries from the past few tours with King Crimson.

The lead character was played by an old high school chum, which was the principal reason I went. I had a fairly good seat, about third row, stage right. The play started and the opening main character monologue had my friend positioned directly in front of me. The scene calls for the actor to engage the audience and my friend looked directly at me as he was talking and our eyes locked for a few seconds.

I felt a palpable sense of energy flow for the brief seconds we stared at each other. The flow seemed to be one-sided in that I felt a fierce, supportive energy from my self to him but nothing back. It was only when he looked away at another audience member and the flow diminished that I noticed something curious. I had expected to feel somewhat depleted after the brief exchange yet was still full of vigor. My attention was still riveted and focused on him and I felt that I had an almost limitless amount of energy to offer.

This energy flow waxed and waned throughout the performance and occurred with all the actors in various degrees, yet at no time did I feel empty.

After the play ended and I reflected upon what had happened I realized that there was a subtle energy flow emanating from all the performers, but because it had to be spread among the audience (and it was a full house) it was easily overlooked. The essence of the energy seemed different as well. Where mine felt as if I were, and I’m grasping for words here, sustaining the performers in some way, the energy I received back acted more like a conduit that allowed me to glimpse some essential human characteristic.

An opportunity was given to all of us in the audience to reflect upon ourselves and I was delighted to realize that both the audience and the performers had a role to play in this creation.

I hope I was worthy of that responsibility.

Today's listening pleasure: The Mars Volta