I've been living in London now for nearly two months, studying playwriting and screenwriting. And so I've seen a ton of professional plays in the West End.
And seeing all these plays has just cemented in me this crazy, exciting love for live theater.
It's such a bittersweet feeling, watching a great play. Because I enjoy it so much, and immediately, when it's over, I want to watch it again. But I can't. Because it isn't a movie I can just put in and rewind. I'd have to buy more tickets and go again.
But that may just be why it's so special.
I love the fact that the actors are right on stage in front of the audience, pulling off these incredible performances. They seem so real. Because they are. It's like watching a 3D movie, but actually good.
I'm amazed by all the sets and costumes and how the directors decide to change the sets and costumes and characters. For example, I saw a show called Port, and each new set came up from inside the stage or down from the ceiling. So, while the other set was descending or ascending, the main actress was walking from one set to the next.
I saw a play called The 39 Steps, where there are four actors in the whole show playing tons of parts. And they'd just put on a new hat or coat right on stage and change characters.
I'm blown away by lights and sounds and endings and beginnings and even intermissions.
I just love it all.
I feel like, at most of the plays I've seen, I watch the majority of the show with my mouth hanging open in awe. Because there's always some kind of crazy, new, magical, trick. Like in this adaptation of Metamorphosis, the Gregor character climbed around on the walls the whole time, then rain came in through a window. And it was all so amazing to me. I couldn't even shut my mouth.
I've just finished seeing a post-apocalyptic version of Macbeth, which was absolutely incredible. James McAvoy played Macbeth, and played it so, so, so well. He was so convincing and amazing, and straight-up crazy. I've never seen an actor I've seen in movies play a role on stage before, and it was just fascinating to watch. Because in a movie, they seem so fake. And on stage, they're real. And this man can really, really act.
I've seen all sorts of plays, from Wicked to Fences. And there's something about them all that I love. Even the weird ones.
I just appreciate acting so much more when I watch a play, as opposed to a movie. I can see how hard it is for the actors, how much they're really giving in their performances. And then I realize they have to go out and do this play every single night for months, sometimes years. And always, always, always give their best.
And that's what I think makes it so amazing. It's a unique, once-in-a-lifetime performance you get to see, and it only lives in your memories. You can't pop in the DVD and rewind it to your favorite part. So you enjoy it while it's there and play it back in your head, over and over and over.
