Attention paid, attention given
It’s long been a running joke among people who write about theatre that our favourite words in the English language are “the show runs 70 minutes with no interval”. But I’ve realised that another phrase delights me even more: “Performance will be followed by a post show Theatre Club”. This isn’t the explosion of ego it might seem, because that delight is specific to performances where someone else is hosting theatre club, and I haven’t organised a thing. I’ve been to two not-hosted-by-me post-show discussions in recent weeks, engaging in them like any other audience member (albeit talking wayyyyy too much). Even though my aim with Theatre Club is to facilitate with a very light touch, so that the conversation is non-hierarchical and questions are offered to what I like to call “every person’s expertise in being human”, I still feel a lot of responsibility for how the dialogue unfolds, especially when critical political topics or sensitive experiences are raised. There was pl...