The Death of Drama: Get Theater Off Life Support

Live theater has been integral to the arts for centuries and is especially important in the modern world as we flock to digital media. 

I would be blind not to acknowledge everything modern technology does for society. Archiving, communication and academia have improved significantly thanks to these advancements. However, with the explosion of streaming services and the digitization of everything but my dog, live theater is dying out — and we should do everything in our collective power to get it off life support. 

A crucial part of theater is the social aspect. In Renaissance-era London, the Globe Theatre was designed to fit thousandsof playgoers. You could not crowd yourself into a theater like that without talking to someone. Moreover, because everyone present would derive their own interpretation of the play, there was plenty of material for conversation.

Some people would go just to spend some time in a welcoming environment. Theaters charged a penny for entry, which most people could afford. When you sat down in your seat, instead of seeing someone higher or lower-class than you, you saw a fellow playgoer. This established a sense of unity that was difficult to find elsewhere. 

“Theater and art isn’t for the common man, it makesthe common man. Art is so powerful in the way that it shapes what people can build community off of,” said senior English major Maya Daud. Shakespeare’s plays were monumental for English literature, Dante's “Divine Comedy" is a keystone for Catholicism — and I’m sure everyone has at least heard of Da Vinci. 

Before the advent of writing, cultures transmitted tales and myths orally from one generation to the next. Art and oral transmission have helped maintain cultures for millennia and will continue to do so if we put the necessary time and effort into keeping them alive.

Live theater also creates an intimacy between the audience and the actors that streaming services sorely lack. When you’re watching a movie on Hulu or Netflix, you’re watching something that was likely recorded in a different part of the country, or the world.

The digital barrier between you and the actors you’re watching is miles thick. That distance, combined with the glorification of certain actors, separates you from the real story of the movie and gives you the impression that those actors are above you. The actors in theaters often talk to and walk amongst the audience, but in movies, they rarely even look at you. 

In a theater you’re seeing the story in real time, in the flesh. These handwritten plays communicate real-life problems and the emotions that accompany them. My favorite example of this is in “Hamlet.”The affair between King Claudius and Queen Gertrude reeks of greed and lust, traits that anyone can fall prey to. Seeing these stories performed on stage can make people feel less alone in their own struggles. Benjamin Leubner, an assistant professor in the English department, mentioned the Aristotelian concept of catharsis — when the stage evokes negative emotion and then releases it, making the audience feel happier. 

Leubner recalls seeing a performance of “Titus Andronicus” with his students. “I didn’t even have to stretch my arm out all the way. My elbow could still be bent, and I could have made contact with the actors,” he said. 

He and his students were also given blankets to protect their clothing from getting soaked in fake blood. That raw, in-your-face experience is unrivalled to movies. I look forward to the day when someone directs a film with a splash zone.

The modern entertainment industry is forgetting about the fluidity of human interpretation. Even when adapting the same play, one playwright’s end product will be wildly different from another’s. An actor who plays a character repeatedly will perform the role slightly differently each time. A single performance is like a fingerprint — each is different. 

“Being able to see that exposes you to so many different ideas that you wouldn’t get just reading [plays],” Daud said. When you watch a pre-recorded and edited movie, everything will be the same each time — it is perfect to a fault. You lose the imperfect quality of a human-performed play.. 

Recent movies are mostly adaptations or sequels from Hollywood companies, so they lack the emotional connection that plays have. I’ve never walked out of a movie theater blown away like I did after the performance of “Hamlet”I attended last year, or with my heart pumping with excitement like it was as I walked to Grant Chamberlain Park to see “Henry V”last Tuesday. 

In an era of wall-mounted TVs and hours of digital distraction, keeping live theater alive is more important than ever. Humans are social creatures, and live theater must live on as a way of connecting with other playgoers, actors and the culture.

The contributions theater has made to our culture have been celebrated for thousands of years. If we confine ourselves to our couches and turn on Netflix instead of going to plays or movie theaters, we’ll lose this connection to our traditions, and our self-identity along with it.