Bombshells
So the show I was working on at Hunters Hill Theatre, Bombshells, finished on saturday. I was one of the lighting operators for the show - something I havent really done before, but it was such a great experience! Being backstage and sitting in the biobox above the audience each show; getting to know the cast (and the way each of them work - yes dealing with actors can be a challenge!); successfully getting through each show without a hitch; being apart of a created work of art- contributing the to atmosphere and experience undertaken by each audience member; seeing the different reactions of each different audience (this helps make the night more interesting once you've seen the play about 20 times!); and generally seeing the whole thing come together from start to finish!
The show did make me think about a lot of things though.
One night I found myself sitting up in the box looking down on the audience and the stage before me, wondering why I enjoy this, why each of us cast and crew members choose to be apart of this, and why people enjoy going to the theatre.
Is it because all of us enjoy escapism now and then?
This was the only reason i could come up with really, which was a little depressing considering i'm meant to love this field and be looking for employment in it.
Is it bad to have something entirely based around escapism? I dont think that motivates me to work on a production...
Of course, escapism isnt really the only reason theatre exists. It is an art form, a form of expression, an outlet of creativity.
I am apart of it because it involves creating, creating a new world, and through that, challenging people to think about different areas of life and art in a way they perhaps hadnt previously...
but if thats why i am involved in theatre production, why do i actually enjoy going to the theatre?
Of course, there is a place for just enjoying it and not thinkg about why, but this is one of the things i thought about when passing the two hours of playing with the lighting board.
Further thoughts were inspired by the play itself. Bombshells is about 6 women - a mother &house wife in her 40s obsessed with pleasing everybody yet feeling depressed and struggling with the everyday challenges of being a wife and mother; an elderly woman who in explaining her love for cacti expresses the realities of love, how people change, how they need nurturing, etc, and the way her husband left her for another woman, yet she remains pained yearning for his return; a teenage school girl entering a school talent quest, obsessed with being the best; a bride about to wed realising she actually doesnt love the groom, all she ever wanted was to wear the dress; a widow who has resigned herself to her everyday life, comparitively boring to the rest of the world, uninteresting because she is alone, lost because she is now one not too, but then made to feel alive again by a encounter with a younger man; and a cabaret singer, who has delt with loss of possessions, her husband leaving her, substance abuse, criticism by the media, and finds comfort in fame and shopping.
These are the women of Bombshells.
This play, obviosuly more suitable for a female audience, got a lot of laughs. And yes, i found some of it funny, there are some good lines in there and some of those actresses have some great facial expressions or definitely know how to deliver a line.
But when you stop and think about what you are laughing at, you realise that most people in the audience are laughing cos they recognise a truth in the sadness presented on stage, a truth cos they can identify with it in their own lives, and thus is makes them kinda nervous, but laugh cos its i guess just a part of life for everyone...
One of the things the play made me think about, therefore, was what I let myself be defined by.
One character says she cannot live without her husband - "Barry dies, Im dying too!" And we get a similar vibe from 2 other characters. Now I know people often say they cannot imagine life without their partner. Thats ok, i can relate to that, its fair enough! What is worrying here is that these women arent just saying that, they are saying they are their life, without them they have no reason to live, without them there is no life.
What a feeling of hopelessness! Yet, i guess, the way a number of people in this world think.
On a related note, the bride character, Teresa, admits that her desire to marry is to wear the dress, be saved from the "endless ocean of singlehood" and possess the title of 'wife' - "I'm going to be somebody's wife! Somebody! Anybody! A wife!" As soon as she says 'I do' she regrets it.
What is scary about this is how many girls out there actually do get caught up in these things, the dress, the wedding day, the fact that they are going to be married, rather than who they are marrying and why.
Of course, I am interpreting this play from a Christain perspective, knowing the beauty of marriage as a gift from God, the way he has created us for, but also a covenant not to be entered into lightly.
Now dont get me wrong, anyone who knows me well will know im a romantic. But that doesnt mean i am completely unaware of the danger of getting caught up in the romance. And the danger of defining yourself by the fact that you are no longer single, etc.
As i said, it made me think about what i define myself by. I am a Christain. That is who i am. Whether I am married or single, a mother, working in theatre, HR or film, that is who i am first and foremost. I hope and pray I can maintain that perspective.
While i dream of one day marrying and becoming a mother, and know that to a certain extent you can definitely describe yourself by those things cos they are beautiful God given blessings, I do not want that to overtake who I am in Christ.
I apologise for the length of this post... but i do hope it makes sense too... if there are any thoughts or questions please feel free to comment! Interested to hear your thoughts on theatre and these other issues...
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