The Empty Space

Though we've been trying to put it off, it was inevitable that we would have to start some time. Last week we were assigned Peter Brook's The Empty Space for some light reading. As a theorist, Brook is pretty interesting though at times I found him to be a bit redundant in his explanations. It almost felt as though I needed to say aloud, "Doesn't everybody already know this?" Still, I guess it's necessary in the greater scheme of things. As a classmate and I were assigned the chapter titled "The Immediate Theater", it was a bit cumbersome to read in the sense that I was the one who had to start halfway through the chapter. In a way, though, the last half of the chapter was probably the most perfect to read considering that Brook was essentially ending the entire book within that chapter. The most thought provoking thing about Brook was that he constantly emphasized this cathartic experience that audience members should always be experiencing in an immediate theater. As we began discussion in class today about Brook, our teacher really challenged us to think about what was going on in theater today. It only dawned to me at that moment that everything has basically reached a stop in theater in the sense that everyone just repeats what has been tried and true. Though society today prides itself for always being on the cutting edge, have we reached a point were cutting edge is just average?