Stage-Struck Physicists?
The scene: outside Northern Stage in Newcastle. A group of 15/16 year old girls and their teacher surround two actors whio have just come off-stage after this evening’s performance.
What is this? A group of stage-struck youngsters? Drama students trying to get tips for their GCSE exam or wanting to know how to become an actor? Autograph hunters? Theatre groupies?
None of these. It is actually a group of GCSE Physics students who’ve come to the theatre to see Unlimited Theatre’s Tangle because it deals with Quantum Physics. and they wanted to talk about how this difficult (or, to me, impenetrable) subject was presented on stage.
I thought it was great! Here we had a piece of theatre dealing with a very non-theatrical subject exciting a group of non-theatregoers. Brilliant!
OK. This is not an earth-shattering post, not a comment on a burning theatrical issue of the day, but what happened here is so important, for this is what theatre is all about - getting people excited and wanting to discuss, even argue. And as we get involved in the day-to-day problems of running theatres and theatre companies, as we immerse ourselves in the undoubtedly very important issues which face all of us who try to make theatre in Britain in 2008, let’s not forget that this is what it all comes down to - reaching out to our audiences and getting them excited.
Well done to Jon Spooner and Unlimited for dealing with subjects which bring in those audiences which other companies don’t reach, and well done to that Physics teacher who had the courage to step outside the lab and fire his students’ enthusiasm in a most unsual way!