Not True, But Useful... A Cheek by Jowl Podcast Episode 8 - Encountering the Predicament
8 snips
Jun 12, 2020 Declan and Nick dive into the human predicament and its relation to theatre. They touch on fascinating themes from Shakespeare to modern tales, exploring how characters confront their identities and feelings. The discussion highlights emotional stakes through classic conflicts, revealing how despair and hope shape narratives. They also analyze Macbeth's soliloquy, uncovering the dark complexities of humanity. With references to everything from cheese trolleys on the Titanic to cats, the conversation is a witty exploration of art's power to reflect life.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
The Power Of Live Encounter
- Live theatre's central power is the shared hush when audience and actor meet, a moment you cannot reproduce virtually.
- That real-time encounter unites people and gives theatre its authority and humanity.
Predicament Trumps Circumstance
- 'Predicament' implies danger and engagement, while 'circumstance' sounds neutral and less useful for theatre work.
- Audiences connect less with character traits than with imagining themselves in the character's predicament.
Predicament Often Is Internal
- A classic dramatic mechanism is that the hero misidentifies the predicament and later discovers the true, often internal, problem.
- This reversal drives narrative depth and character undoing.