The age-old relationship between audience and performer

“The action of clapping is actually a quite primitive one, initially being used in response to being aroused.” –Amanda Mehtala, Theatre in Paris The creative process of performing arts is overwhelmingly conducted away from the eyes of an audience, but ultimately, it must be presented to others in order to become a performance. The relationship between performer and audience is as old as theatres, as old as jesters and courts and amphitheatres, old as the dances that occurred in front of firelight in the before-times. The theatre presents a unique space, wherein the creation and suspension of belief occur. As we enter the playhouse, the tent, the auditorium, we make a secret silent pact, to leave the outside behind and enter a new world. This is not a table and a chair, no, this is ancient Greece, this is my internal mind, this is the future that could have been. This is a marvel, and that is a wonder. The entering is important...