No Business like Show Business...

"We're all thespians at heart really" was a comment just thrown away by a friend of mine earlier today, but it was a comment that hit me square in the face and so I thought to myself, this is a comment that deserves a discussion so a discussion I shall give it.

My initial thought is to scream no, no this is not true. A case in point would be BBC's new dramatisations of some of Shakespeare's historical plays such as Richard II which aired last week. The plays are billed that anyone can enjoy them even non-shakespeare lovers. I wouldn't say that that statement is strictly true, the adaptation is sensational but there are still parts that are rather heavy going and if you don't understand whats going on you really have to pay attention to get to grips with it. If you do get to grips with it though it does really highlight some of the bards greatest work, often work that people haven't even looked at since they were in school and even then they looked at it when told too and ignored it at all other times. I have always felt that schools teach shakespeare in an appalling manner, only when it is performed can you appreciate how delicately formed each line is but that is the subject for a whole other discussion in which I will probably end up sounding like some hideous person who adores Shakespeare but what can you do?

After this initial torrent of confusion my brian continued to spew out situations where really we are not all thespians at heart and then I stopped myself to ask the truly arty question "What is Theatre?" and before you get concerned that I am drifting off into an even more pretentious question than my original one never fear, I will be brief. I concluded that Theatre is really just some form of make believe that people can escape into, at which point it hit me. We are all thespians at heart. I have never met anyone in my live that does not enjoy escaping on some level, whether that be a week in Cuba or watching two and a half hours of ABBA hits strung together with a very loose storyline. Escaping is a fundamental part of our lives now.

I myself have often longed for escape and theatre in its various guises has often been a help to me. It allows you just to pretend you are someone else. DisneyLand is based on that very concept and that seems to have turned out okay. You are transported for a day into a land very different to our own where talking mice and singing bears are totally the norm and maybe dreams can come true, If thats not theatre I don't know what is. equally I know no-one that cannot relate to that and appreciate that on some level so yeah, I guess we are all Thespians at Heart...