Real Theatre is Live

BY Jim Lasko

Theatre has a single virtue that sets it apart from television and film. It is live. Good Theatre relies on that strength, pushes it, exaggerates it. In whatever manner. That’s why people love those clever shows in the backs of cars or in bathrooms; they are about the here and now. They are live. That’s why they love the circus and improv; they are here and now; responding in an overt way to their present audience. Any theatre that can be repeated anywhere, that doesn’t genuinely respond to its audience, should be made into a television show and broadcast over one of the 642 channels currently available. That would be great. Then we’ll stop fooling our audiences, they’ll know a bit more of what they’re getting, and real theatre will have real audiences.

Jim Lasko is the artistic director of Redmoon Theater.

What Makes Good Theatre? Archives