Disturbance and the 21st century theatre scene Blog #4

When I was in Disney world last year I was just casually walking down mainstreet with my mom on our way to get some coffee before we started our day of adventuring, when suddenly a cast member dropped to his knees and began drawing water art.  Using a bucket of water and a tied up broom he started creating an image of the well-known and loved Donald Duck.  This of course created a large amount of curiosity for visitors who were interested to know what was going on.  A crowd started to gather around him and it caused sort of a block on the street and made it difficult to maneuver past them.  This definitely caused a disturbance, because it prevented us and others from easily walking into the mainstreet Starbucks, but we didn’t actually mind the delay because we were equally intrigued.  I think this little street performance was actually very effective, similar to almost all of the street shows Disney performs in their parks.  I think that the purpose of this performance was not to merely entertain park visitors on a fairly crowded day, but to also alleviate attraction congestion, and it did just that.  Once we eventually made it further into the park, I noticed more of these water drawings.  They were not in close proximity to the more popular attractions, but by ones that get less attention.  This subtly enforced visitors to go to these less popular attractions to keep the park and attraction flow running as smoothly and efficiently as possible.  Disneyworld is not shy about how the whole company is essentially run as a theatre and I think that these little side performances are what makes Disney world so appealing. It’s the “magic,” the unsuspecting aspect of the possibility of magical happenstance. I think that it’s important to recognize that just because there is a certain expectation of what theatre is and should be doesn’t mean that it has to be limited by that expectation.  Familiarity, I find is a drawing in mechanism.  I wouldn’t go so far as to say that we need a billion revivals to make theatre 21^st century friendly, but I think taking classical ideas and expanding on them is vital.  Creating a new space for a known piece can capture an audience’s attention and invest them in it.  I know that personally my environment has an enormous affect on my feelings, so if we possibly get rid of the traditional theatre seating arrangement and broaden our theatre spaces, then I think it could be more appealing.  I think audiences and people in general have an intrinsic desire to be something or be a part of something greater than they are.  So let them! Create an environment and a stage that includes them in it.  If I’m watching Romeo and Juliet in an actual garden and the house is literally among the rose buds and I can smell their sweetness and feel the way Romeo and Juliet are feeling as they decide to marry, that connection could occur.