Children of the Sun and the Theatre-Going Experience

Let me begin this post by admitting to you all that I am hardly a very technologically-oriented person... Coupled with the lack of a computer and the spotty internet in our hotel, it's taken me until now to fully understand my way around this whole blog-posting thing. But now that I seem to have it under control, there are so many topics that I feel could be discussed and brought to the table at this point. Let me start with Children of the Sun, since for me it was a play that not only deeply moved me, but also completely changed how I have come to view the experience of the theatre.

It seems these days to be a rare occasion that one should even find him or herself in a theatre--especially one in the heart of London. I asked Olmert last week how DC could compare to London with respect to it's adherence to theatrical entertainment, and I was surprised when he told me that DC is probably second in the world behind London in this respect. In a city where one would be hard-pressed to not pass the doors to a theatre on the way to the supermarket, I couldn't believe that DC could even hold a finger to this city... In my opinion, this is a horrible shame.

During the intermission of the Amen Corner last week, I went upstairs to buy a coffee and wake myself out of the drowsiness of a full day of Olmert-led lecturing. I ordered, and the man behind the bar, an enthusiastic individual of about thirty, asked me how I was enjoying the show so far.

"Oh it's excellent," I replied, though I knew that what I'd seen of Baldwin's play had yet to move me as much as other performances we'd seen that week. "I saw Children of the Sun a few days ago, though," I told him, "and I absolutely loved it."

"That's good to hear!" he replied, motioning towards the cream and sugar across the aisle. "I've seen many people come out of that show very upset afterwards."

This didn't exactly surprise me, as the ending of Children of the Sun was a heart-wrenching one indeed, and I know from talking to others in the group that compared to my impressions, it was hardly as well-received.

"Well that's what the theatre is supposed to do, right?" I asked him as I handed him a handful of randomly chosen coins, the byproduct of my not having yet become accustomed to the pound. "I mean, I feel like if you leave the theatre upset, then the play's done it's job, right?"

The look he gave me at this point was so appreciative that I was nearly expecting him to hand back the coins and give me my coffee for free. "Exactly," he said smiling. "Cheers mate, enjoy the second act!"

There have been many moments throughout this trip wherein, amidst the darkness of the theatre, I've discovered something new about myself. And it's the work of the playwright to do this, through the perfectly placed line, artfully crafted sentence structures and, no doubt, the employment of a powerful ending. In Children of the Sun we see a group of characters with whom we feel we can relate, at first... but it's Gorky's story following the demise of a group of ignorant intellectuals, that humbles us to the point of despair. By the time we think we've understood these characters, their ignorance has already ensured their undoing. It's no surprise that this play has a tendency to humble the theatre-goer. He who believes he is safely in the right through the pursuit of intellect is brought to the same level as the street-peddler and the abuser, the uneducated and the bum. Because if I've learned anything from these plays and from this trip, it's that life's about balance, life's about today, and as we learned from the Amen Corner, life is about caring for one another above all else. For ignorance can be wonderfully blissful, and, just as easily, horrifically destructive.