I love theatre. I would go to every theatre venue and support every theatre company in the city and beyond if I could. I love the stories, the actors, the staging, and the audience, all of which comes together to make live theatre second to none.
Unfortunately, going to the actual theatre at all is not possible at the moment, but that has created opportunities to keep theatre alive and accessible in other ways.
Now, I fully understand and appreciate the notion of ‘live’ versus ‘recorded’ theatre, but having watched several free productions of recorded live theatre through the National Theatre at Home initiative, I was more than happy to pay to experience PTE’s recorded production of Post -Democracy by Hannah Moscovitch. I know or know of all the actors, and I wanted to support local theatre, even in this small way. And I was not at all perturbed by the recorded nature of the play. In fact, I welcomed it, given my current state of work overload that seems to be taking up so much of my time. The opportunity to experience a production in the comfort of my own home was a gift.
And I have to say that after seeing the production, I admit to a hankering for the good old days, sitting in a theatre and being fully immersed in a live staging. But I also have to admit that if COVID leads to a complementary future where both live and recorded theatre is available, I will not hesitate to support both.
Of course, I suspect that some purists will not be quite as on board with that as I am, and I fully understand that. But if the choice is to see or not to see, then I already have my answer.