WHAT IS THE THEATRE?
by Robert Cohen
a text
the verbal aspects of theatre
a process (to be dramatic)
 National Theatre of
Romania
National Theatre of
Great Britain 
“theatre of operations”
“operating theatre”
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Construction crew
Dressers
House management
Ushers
Stage management
Stagehands
Electricians
Dressers
ART is...
ennobling, entertaining, educative
requires IMPERSONATION
Performance requires an audience
THEATRE is live and in the moment
“willing suspension of disbelief”
Highly theatrical
Theatre is about
authenticity. It’s
in front of you; you
feel it. It’s so hard
to feel stuff any
more from film…
It can get very
remote.
Meryl Streep
There is only so long
you can go from film
to film. Theatre is a
more raw experience.
For an actor a live
audience is creative
inspiration.
Jude Law
One of the glorious things about the
theatre is that it cannot be preserved.
You cannot look at it again; it’s live…
Cinema is dead. You can laugh, you
can cry, you can shout at the screen
and the movie will carry on. But an
audience in the theatre, whether it
knows it or not, is affecting the
performance…That’s the stream of
life at its best, isn’t it?
Ian McKellan
That question will be addressed
in a separate chapter…