Question for Theater people, or Theater goers

[TygerEyez]

I ran into someone today that had a major problem with the musical RENT. The show has some "challenging" issues, and the person I spoke with said those issues shouldn't be aired on stage.

I had my own opinion on this, and told the person so, but I'd like to get your thoughts. Do you think RENT unnecessarily pushes the envelope? Or did it show what needed to be seen?

 

[seXieleXie]

theatre is a great medium to push the envelope. rent isn't nearly as edgy as a lot of the plays i've read. it's not all smiles and rainbows (heh heh) but it does try to add a glossy overcoat to some very ugly realities.

 

[TygerEyez]

See, I agree! But the person I talked to ( a co-worker ) didn't think that the subject of drugs, homosexuality, and other things should be shown in a theater were children could see.

I told her not to take her kids there, then.

 

[Natalie Nessus]

The theatre is to push, yes? from Greek tragedies to Shakespeare, it is to challenge and confront.

It is about your friend, I think, not the art

 

[Starfire]

I ran into someone today that had a major problem with the musical RENT. The show has some "challenging" issues, and the person I spoke with said those issues shouldn't be aired on stage.

I had my own opinion on this, and told the person so, but I'd like to get your thoughts. Do you think RENT unnecessarily pushes the envelope? Or did it show what needed to be seen?

TygerEyez ... Interesting topic. Art needs to challenge, I feel. Throughout the centuries artists have pushed the boundaries. I am in favour of freedeom of expresson.

Did your friend find the play disturbing. gratuitous, offensive?

 

[LadyDarkFire]

Theater is no different from movies in some ways, there are plays that are all right for children, and plays better suited to the adults. Generally, if parents look at the sort of play that is in a theater, they can decide if they want their children to see the play or not. Frankly, I don't think RENT has pushed the envelope as far as some movies I've seen, and it's also a great piece of art. We live in a country of free speech, and frankly, censorship of the theater is something that should not happen, IMHO.

 

[Starfire]

Theater is no different from movies in some ways, there are plays that are all right for children, and plays better suited to the adults. Generally, if parents look at the sort of play that is in a theater, they can decide if they want their children to see the play or not. Frankly, I don't think RENT has pushed the envelope as far as some movies I've seen, and it's also a great piece of art. We live in a country of free speech, and frankly, censorship of the theater is something that should not happen, IMHO.

It seems that we are pretty much in agreement over this one.

I have overheard grumbles over the years about a wide range of plays - mainly, I feel, from people who think they "ought" to go to the theatre rather than from those who have a genuine interest.

 

[Juspar Emvan]

RENT - the New Zealand play? I wouldn't have called it pushing the envelope, but gritty stuff. Theatre is a perfect medium, though it can be troubling for the actors - rewarding too.

 

[TygerEyez]

Well said, by everyone.

Nessus - I think it was purely about my co-worker's attitude.

Starfire - She was abhored by it. She couldn't believe they'd put two actresses on a stage and tell them to actually kiss in front of people.

LadyDarkFire - I agree completely.

I agree with all of you, actually. Theater should not be censored, and movies DO go beyond what the theater would even think of performing. Shrek had "saving my ass," and it was pronounced as a movie "ok" for children to see. (but that's another topic ) Jonathan Larson, who wrote the musical, lived that life, and I don't think anyone has the right to say that it's wrong, or indiscrete.

Sometimes people aren't ready to face reality, I guess. What a sad sad world...

 

[kotori]

Guess what?

I ran into someone today that had a major problem with the musical RENT. The show has some "challenging" issues, and the person I spoke with said those issues shouldn't be aired on stage.

La Bohème, upon which Rent is based, has some challenging issues. We no longer raise them when we see Pucini, because it's part of the canon, so one hardly even thinks about the plot. Of course in La Bohème, the presentation is more subtle, but it's also a hundred years older (almost). Maybe The Diary of Anne Frank is too challenging to be on stage? Silly.

What is art for, if not to make us look hard at the world that we only usually gloss over?

 

[BigDawg69]

Thank you Kotori, you just beat me to the La Boheme reference. I have to agree with the other posters that this is ot so much about Rent as it is about your friend.

I was raised in the theatre. So much so that in my small town in western NC my parents would recieve anonymous notes from some that they were going to Hell for allowing thier child to be involved in theatre. I am so glad they didn't listen and raise above the ignorance, because live entertainment is how I make my living. I owe my career to the community theatre in which I was raised.

Theatre has traditionally and historically pushed the envelope. Be it a small community having the guts to produce a Tennesee Williams play, or Broadway doing Rent or even an incredible show like Angels in America which confronted homosexuality and AIDS long before it was acceptable to do so. I'm not saying that all theatre has to be challenging, certainly there is room and welcome for the Neil Simon's of the world, nor should all theatre be fluff and spectacle. What is art, but that which imitates life.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

There is theatre, a forum for the dramatization of the human condition, and there is children's theatre. What's your friend's problem again?

 

[Lasz]

issues that are commonly pushing the envelope are presented on stage?
No way?
Who would have thought that would ever happen
Broadway has been doing this for well.... as long as I can remember.

Laz

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Your friend has a skewed sense of what the theatre is for. You can certainly go farther back than Broadway to find "issues" presented on stage. "Lysistrada" anyone?

The play's the thing to catch the conscience of the King, and plays have been doing that since the first Cavemen told the first hunting story around a campfire. There's theatre, and then there's rehearsed entertainments. They're different. And they both have a place.

And just WHO is bringing their children to see "Rent"? What happened? "Lion King" sell out?