Theatre in our society, an interview with Rachel O' Grady
- thomasjlb10
- Mar 31, 2021
- 6 min read
Being a theatre fan, I was more than gutted to see all the theatres close down over lockdown. The theatre industry is extremely competitive and can be very demanding. The performers all provide quality entertainment to an excited audience that waits behind the curtain, but why is theatre so valuable to our society? Will it still be around in the future? And what do drama students think about theatres and lockdown and a potential dead-end industry? I interviewed Rachel O' Grady, a first-year student, at Italia Conti to hear her views on many of these issues.
Theatre is so important in our modern-day society because it allows us to see things from different perspectives. By watching shows and musicals, it allows us to evaluate scenarios and situations in which the characters may find themselves, in a way that videos and films can not replicate as they are not live. Not only this but theatre and performance brings people together. In a literal sense, people come together to watch a story take place in an artistic form, the sense of people around us can make us feel comforted. Also, it brings us together because we have something to talk about. OK yes, of course, you can say that film and cinema give us the same emotions and such like, however, with theatre being live and real, it gives us loads to think about. With cinema and films, we find ourselves looking at what the producers want us to watch, and the show is not individual, unlike theatre. With so many elements of theatre, and so many aspects to look at and dive into, no two peoples take on a show will be the same, making theatre such a unique and amazing art form. I can safely say that I LOVE theatre. The creativity, the imagination, the atmosphere, it's something you can not replicate.
Sadly, in March 2020 theatres were all closed, because of the pandemic, which had a huge impact on so many people. Performers and actors were not allowed to do their jobs and what they love to do, which resulted in no income and so many of them having to try and find jobs in retail. Being a performer, you have to be incredibly talented, however often the skills you learn are not easily transferable to other careers. In addition to this, becoming an actor for the stage is extremely competitive. Every year thousands of people apply to the top performance schools, such as Italia Conti, GSA, Urdang academy and so many others. Obviously, not everyone will land a place at those schools, and of those who are lucky enough to train there, even less will get the opportunity to fulfil their dreams to perform on West End stages and sing their hearts out, or embody a new personality, to new audiences every night. This means that when theatres do get the chance to re-open and auditions do take place, the industry will be more competitive than ever before.
With 2020 graduates having their opportunities delayed and current and old students still trying to audition, the industry will have to face the facts and turn down hundreds of talented performers.
Like many students, Rachel has had to put up with the struggles of zoom for her learning, however, with her Musical theatre course being so practical, Rachel has to face unique challenges which many of us may not have thought about. With little space compared to a studio and the music lagging because of zoom, it is hard for performers to overcome these challenges. Despite this Rachel has found it a unique experience and taken lots away from the pandemic problems.
Once theatres re-open, there is the question of the theatre industry 'dying out'. However Rachel, and I both disagree with this. So many people have been patiently waiting for the theatres re-opening and so when they finally get the opportunity to safely re-open, I believe they will be more popular than ever before. People crave the atmosphere of the theatre which will mean that every seat will be filled, every night, of every show. On July 3rd of 2020, Hamilton, the award-winning musical, was released onto the super-platform; Disney +. Thousands of fans and theatre newbies tuned in to see the phenomenon from the comfort of their own homes, which created a spark amongst many, and an excitement to see such shows live, which drew in new audiences to the future theatre seats, and hopefully selling out the tickets. "As soon as the first lockdown hit, there was a massive surge of creativity" comments Rachel. She mentioned that new ideas and musicals were coming out all the time because of people expanding creativity. Being locked at home, almost forces people to think a little differently, and outside the box. The musical theatre student mentioned how " people are always going to find a way to create and perform, no matter the circumstance". This is such an interesting and valid point, and it shows how even in the most extreme cases of a global pandemic, peoples ingenuity and creativity continues to grow and perhaps the pandemic even enhanced it.
Rachel continued to talk about how 'Bridgerton the musical', initially a mere TikTok trend, (And can we just appreciate the absolutely INCREDIBLE music for it!?) and she discussed with me how this is the perfect example of creativity and ingenuity. I think social media and TikTok especially, is such a game-changer for our generation. I think my generation (Generation Z) hold a lot of power in the fact that if we want something, we can get it done, and 'Bridgerton: the musical' is a perfect example of young peoples voice and power. It would not surprise me in the slightest if it did end up on a west end stage in the future. Despite not being at the theatre for over a year, it is not dying off but it will certainly have changed.
Another aspect of theatre that Rachel was keen to talk about was how theatre is everywhere. It's abstract. The society that we live in means that theatre and performance are passively ingrained into our culture without us really taking note of it, but the minute we remove all aspects of theatre our culture would shatter. As Rachel says "a life without culture isn't a life worth living".
Sadly it is known to be a systematic racist institution. A prime example is the character Elpahaba from Wicked. The character is often alone and portrayed as being bullied because of the colour of her skin; green. Despite this fact, the character has majoritarily been played by white actresses. You would think that since the character is called out for being different because of their skin tone, firstly it would not matter what race performer you choose because they will be head to toe in green, but also it may give a better performance from a BAME actress as they have had more life experiences of bullying and such like, which allow thier past emotions to shine through. Stanaslavski was a theatre practiononer who came up with the system, where one of the eight parts was emotion memory, which means drawing on your experiences to enhance your performance. You would think that the producers of such a show understand this and maybe want to use it to their advantage?
On top of this, the shows in West End and Broadway often only cast stereotypical representations of a character. I think this is especially common for females. When it comes to auditions Rachel commented on the fact that too often it is not about your talent but instead what you look like. Is you skin perfect? Are you slim enough? Are your eyes round enough? The list goes on. It just goes to show that this industry certainly has its problems just like any other.
Sadly the government does not and did not give enough support and funding to this industry throughout lockdown and now, despite this Rachel is not worried about her promising future in musical theatre and her determined mindset will get her to where she wants to be.
The hardworking musical theatre student commented how she loves to learn. She feels performance is an industry where you continue to grow and learn, and no matter how good you are, there is always more to experience and more room to grow. There is so much to show for your hard work and Rachel, like many others feels an enormous sense of achievement and pride when she looks back and realsies how far she has come!
We are both extremely excited to be able to get back to the theatres once more and enjoy what we love most about it!
thomasjlblog
31st March 2021
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