There is something very important about the photo that accompanies this article. Not just that it is a lousy photo – I can say that; I took it – but what it includes. An audience.
There is a point somewhere in the life of a play where the script stops being just a collection of words and starts to become a performance. Even when we read scripts among ourselves, when choosing the next play for instance, we start acting it to each other, and the rest of us become that vital ingredient – the audience. The script starts to come to life and you can see its potential. Yes, you can sit curled up in a chair and read it as you would a book, but it needs a cast to animate it and an audience to appreciate it. Imagine a Pantomime without children (of all ages!).
And every audience is different. Even for the same play in the same place, different groups of people react to the experience in different ways. Some are what we refer to as Television audiences, who, even though they are enjoying themselves, don’t react outwardly. Some are Pantomime audiences, who make nearly as much noise as the cast do. Whichever, they are as much part of theatre as we are. Without them we would be making a film. Interestingly, size isn’t as important as you may imagine, but the play and the audience need to match the scale of the venue. An intimate play and a tiny audience just doesn’t work in a large hall. Conversely, there is no way we could do something like “Phantom of the Opera” at the Village Hall, no matter how large the audience.
If you like, a performance is an agreement between the cast and the audience; we act, you react. With an audience, we can take a script and create theatre.
If you would like to find out more about us please contact info@thorpeplayers.co.uk If you are more interested in being audience, we run a free mailing list for each of our main events. If you wish to be added to this please e-mail your details to news@thorpeplayers.co.uk
Valerie Lane
Chairman
