CHAT ROOM.

BRILLIANT!

CHEERS,

summa

Thanks for the responses to my own notes on Chatroom.

I may be over a decade older than the target audience, but I do stand by what I said about Jim’s thoughts at the end of the play, which were a turn off to me, and possibly also to an average teenager with even less patience for words of wisdom. It ran against the grain of the play - the thrust and parry of wit between the characters formed the audience responses on the issues the play fleshed out and we didn’t need a character to come and tell us what’s what at the end. To me, it was a moment of what can be either seen as patronising or fear that the audience would walk away with any message other than that suicide was bad and unnecessary. Surely you would agree that youth theatre can edify without resorting to such measures? I am, you will note, not critiquing Jim’s delivery of the lines, but that the lines where there in the first place.

I also respectfully disagree about advertisements projected on to stage. I know how difficult it is to get sponsorship for serious productions. The history of theatre is such that it has always relied on rich benefactors or commercial sponsorship for the promotion of art, but when mercenary foundations are objectionably projected into the stage itself, it invariably colours our appreciation of the creation. Art and commercialism simply don’t mix, and to coalesce both is a dangerous trend where marketers & advertisers, with generally no aesthetic appreciation save that which is governed by a profit motive, can increasingly determine cultural production. The point is simply that their support for a (good) production is appreciated by serious audience without having to project it in their faces. This of course is a larger discussion that I think serious directors such as yourself should take up with a broader audience with a view to creating a foundation for artistes to produce their works that is not wholly reliant on the largesse of commercial enterprises.

As for Cliff Richard taking over all the lights, I think it’s a fairly incisive observation in and of itself of Colombo’s partiality to geriatric banality over youthful exuberance. My observation of lights however was made on the basis of what’s written here - http://www.sundaytimes.lk/060813/plus/arts.html - which you had pointed to in your blog as well, which seems to suggest a lighting system far more advanced than what you say actually exists. C’est la vie?

Take care,

Sanjana

thanks for all your comments. i just skimmed sanjana’s review and would just like to say that the british school actually doesn’t have any advanced lighting system at all. what you saw is what they have. maybe you’ve seen a production there with hired lights. we couldn’t get any ‘cos all event companies had given their specialised lights to sir cliff bloody richard!

krishan, the whole point of the play was to prove that suicide is not the answer. jim committing suicide at the end would have just been sensationalist, and an incredibly stupid action to promote. and so far from the whole point of the play.

in that sense ,sanjana, jim’s monologue at the end is neither terrible or unnecessary. it is the crux. this is a youth theatre initiative. i also took special care that it didn’t come out as pontifying, and i think he handled it sensitively. it’s so easy to go over the top with a character like that, and the challenge for brandon was to hold it in, yet remain tense and distressed. not easy.

yeah, i also don’t know where the bunny rabbits came from that’s why we put the music up there!

as for the adverts - we’re a fringe theatre company. we don’t get large sponsors, and basically we do what we can to survive and put on a good show.

we were at about 75% on friday, at about 60% on saturday, and at 85% yesterday in terms of audience.

and to all those people who came and saw the - thank you very much for your support and your feedback. we had a standing ovation from the house last night. it was my first, and it was amazing!

I heard someone say that Chatroom was sold out on every night, but on Friday there were lots of seats vacant. The announcer actually said to move to vacant seats before the play began that created a mini-stampede of sorts. Wonder whether seats were purchased in bulk by the sponsors? Can’t imagine so many buying tickets and not turning up.

And yes, the adverts at the beginning were a bit weird. But the play more than made up for it. Well done Tracy !