RAT The dramaturgy of ...

[vz <dexteriously@yahoo.com>]

--- Greg Romero <gregoryromero@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> But then don't tell anyone and see if
>> people get it.

This statement interests me.  Apologies, Greg, for taking it out of
your context!  But what the hell.

"Not telling, and seeing if it's gotten" is something that I see
happening in the theatre all the time, especially by artists who are
inclined take risks in how they connect with their audiences.  I also
run into many a critique of this practice, especially by artists,
critics, and audience members who feel that to connect is the point.

I've done it: written plays that had layers of meaning or context that
I knew would not be gotten by all.  I remember writing one play based
on a particular film, without citing that film, and not one person has
ever seen the connection.  Was I being self-indulgent?  Entertaining an
audience consisting only of myself?  In that instance, I thought not: I
wanted the play to be a whole thing, a full experience, without regard
to that film reference.

But then I wrote another play based on an outside work, that I felt had
failed.  Every character in my play corresponded to a character in that
other work.  To see that correspondence, I felt, was to enter into a
depth of connection with my work that would reward you.  To miss that
correspondence was to be less well-rewarded for having come to see my
play.

Why did I feel my play had failed?  I'm not sure, I'm still thinking
about it, but perhaps I was mindful of percentages.  I guessed that
maybe as much as 50% of my potential audience would "get" the premise. 
More, if I ever had the kind of production that earned a buzz and clued
in an audience beforehand (a scenario that might be considered
presumptuous).

Then again, I can't be *too* mindful of percentages.  Michelangelo
Antonioni has said that he doesn't worry about his films being
understood by audiences, that the audiences for his work are created by
the work, come into being because of the work.  I understand what he
means, because I love his work and can't adequately articulate why.

But I can't quite embrace the Antonioni outlook without discretion.  If
I employ a reference to Monica Vitti (as I once did in such a heartfelt
way in one of my plays), can I be satisfied to assume that the audience
for that reference, and its function in my play, will 'come into
being'?  In that particular instance, alas, no.

I'm not trying to formulate a thesis here.  I'd be interested, though,
to see if a conversation can break out here: how have you RATs wrestled
with being 'gotten'?  How have you responded to works that have
challenged you to 'get' them?

Wally Z



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