There was a time, and to be more approximate this time was somewhere around the late 16th century, when stage drama was considered a “low” form of entertainment. In a very real way, Renaissance theater was to English society what contemporary Hollywood is to American society. Both made a business out of entertainment that was considered central to society, but also quite subversive. In fact, London alderman passed regulation banning theaters from being built within city limits. Neither the Globe nor the Blackfriars were legally considered to be part of the city. Today, there is a television in nearly every household, but keeping true to its theatrical roots, Hollywood remains notorious for base, outlandish, sinful, and subversive material.
Critics accused renaissance theater of debasing English culture, dampening intellect, and promoting sex and violence. Sound familiar?
But what of theater today? The stage certainly has put its wild years behind her, for plays are now considered a very cultivated, very “high” art form. Entertainment? Yes, but only entertainment for the cultured, not for the masses. The Glass Menagerie for the intellectual elite and The Walking Dead for the rest.
This historical metamorphosis of theater is part of my inspiration for staging The Spanish Tragedy. I want to open the secret diary of Our Lady Theater and read the details of her most sultry and sordid past. I want to remind this refined woman of where she came, less we forget, Shakespeare was Spielberg, Jonson was Judd Apatow, and Middleton wrote shows like One Tree Hill and Sons of Anarchy.
As I half-mentioned before, I am currently in charge of actors from the London Stage tour of Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy. I am going to use this blog to tell you a bit about my thought process going into this project.
No comments:
Post a Comment