Off to see a play. By which I mean "A Play, A Play, What Could Be More Boring Than a PLAY!!", read in the voice of Homer Simpson.
Now, community theatre, the best of intentions, the What, this play, a suspense/horror? In the vein of Agatha Christie supposedly. And the Who - well, local community thespians, all of whom turn in a fine job; this town is filled with talent, the Where - at the theatre, of course, the When, showtimes as advertised, but what eludes me is the "Why". I mean, suspenseful it is not, not at all, and looking up the play, it's not locally written, it's not particularly good, it seems to be a staple of the "dinner theatre" crowd, which is an artform that constantly eludes me. Mindless entertainment, of the ilk you might find on any TV set, done live in front of you, suspenseful not in the least, and I'm perplexed as to why it was written (to fill seats in empty theatres, presumably, but - no other reason??), and why it was chosen (and a good time was had by all...or maybe it demanded no royalties?), and were I a little less considerate I would have taken the lead of the people next to me and vanished during the intermission. There's the real mystery, where did they go? And why were they here? Why am I here? Maybe that's the point of it, to bring me to an existential crisis...
Anyways, short of burning the script and starting completely over - and shooting the playwright - I was at a loss as to how to improve it when it occurred to me that it could be greatly improved with a little - a lot - of "Audience Participation". By which I mean perhaps the audience could be involved, prompted, to give loud gasps of shock-horror-surprise - at all the right moments, prime them, and then, really, maybe then a good time could have been had by all.
Otherwise I was just watching the thespians having a great time while I myself felt that any reaction would have been so over the top - act surprised, gasp? Clearly your faking this Mr. Boyle, you should have seen that coming a mile away - you did, in fact, didn't you?
Anyways, all about supporting the local community theatre, but maybe we have to get them some better scripts...