For someone who yaks on about it day and night I don't normally get to watch a lot of theatre. I mean I still probably watch more than the average person, and I watch a huge amount of comedy, but recently theatre has taken a back bench. Unless you can find a way to beg, borrow or steal tickets it's an extraordinarily expensive past time to fund.
But this is a massive mistake. As much as I love comedy it traps me into a world where everything must be funny, funny, funny. Sometimes I want to switch that off and relax into the exploration of something other than just getting the laughs or one person holding the fort. Sometimes I crave interaction that isn't centered around a comedian attempting to control a drunk, over confident ignoramus in the front row. Plus, how do we learn how to act, to write, to produce theatre without seeing it in action?
The thing about moaning about time, ticket prices and what not is that when you find yourself with a week off work and being offered seats on the house you have to accept that offer. Duh! Oh, I'm not complaining. I just didn't expect it to happen four times. In one week. That's all.
THE WEEK OF THEATRE
MONDAY: A Chorus Line, Piccadilly Theatre, West End, London
WEDNESDAY: Nihal, St. James Theatre, London
FRIDAY: Blonde Poison, St. James Theatre, London
SATURDAY: Coalition, Pleasance Theatre, Islington
In case you're wondering, I got the tickets through a combination of writing arts columns for a newspaper and through friends and family papering. These are both good ways for the impoverished artist to see as much theatre as possible. Personally I think it's important to be careful about reviewing, about bandying your opinion about especially if you're planning to work in the industry, but writing articulate, interesting, well researched arts columns, articles and features can be great practice. I was asked to write about different aspects of the productions, creative teams and venues depending on what I was seeing and who for. This forced me to practise both my writing skills and to watch the shows from different perspectives. Plus, I can be a little boring about what I like so it's pretty nifty to have been forced into a week of such different types of theatre. Look! A West End musical, two solo plays one about rights for disabled children and one about the holocaust plus a political satire starring a cast of comedians. Phew!
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