feeling listless

Theatre The most startling and certainly the worst piece of theatre I ever saw was during my time with The Studio Theatre in Leeds. I was volunteer front of house which meant on the nights I was working I got to see the show for free. Mostly it was experimental, a lot of the time it was crap, but it gave me a chance to see why the really good theatre deserves it's reputation. On one particular night I really had no idea what to expect. The show began in darkness. I was sitting on the end, and were I was sitting wasn't completely black. Drum beats started and I felt draft as two figure skipped by me. As the stood on the 'stage' the audience could just about make out their silhoettes.

They were naked. We could see they were naked because we couldn't see the rumple of clothes. But we sat patiently for the 'surprise'.

Lights up. Suprise. They are naked. It's a woman and a man entirely excited about being on stage. An excitement which was being made by a single part of his body, which seemed to be making the point very well. It's at times like that you wish you have a hat.

Why were they naked? Still can't say. But we sat there, in silence as they threw their bodies about the stage for twenty minutes, then spending the next twenty putting their clothes back on. What an entirely unerrotic experience. This may have been the idea, but to pardon the expression it wasn't entirely explicit.

Now Broadway are having a similar experience every night of the week. [NY Times reg required]