David opens to mixed reviews...

David In Shadow and Light had it's official opening at Theatre J Sunday night, also press night, and the reviews have been...mixed.

I use the term mixed because whilst none of them were particuarly glowing reviews, each had different likes and gripes, as is typical in the world of critique. I generally turn the other cheek on reviews because in the end, they are not why we do theatre. The only real detriment of reviews is to the broader audience of non-typical theatre goers who rely on reviews to tell them what to see, as with movie reviews. I am the type that ignores movie reviews and go see what looks appealing to me, as I am with theatre.

The thing that got me really thinking as I read through the four reviews I found yesterday and today (the post, the times, all arts review 4 u, and DC Theatre Scene) was why, through all that was discussed, one important element was missing. I don't feel any of the reviewers talked about what was to be felt from the piece. What they got, what they thought about, what it meant to them. Isn't that what one of the great thing about live theatre is? The ability to go to the bar or coffee house after the show and discuss with friends not only which actors you liked, or what worked or didn't work technically, or what you thought about the music, ect ect but what affect it had on you, what it made you think about, what points were made.

I think a main part of this show is when you dig through everything else and look at the core, the bone structure, the heart, it is a story about the Human Condition, however flawed, and its affect on others and the world as a whole. David is a perfect example of this. Rising up from nothing, and through charisma, talent, beauty, poetry, and music he rises up to be King over all the land only to prove that he too, is flawed, and yet God and man still love and forgive him as he loves and forgives those around him for their sins. It seems the reviewers have all become so concentrated on all the technical elements they forget the main reason people come to theatre...people come to the theatre because of how it makes them feel. they want to connect with the characters and story unfolding on the stage in a way that is hard to do with a Tv or Movie screen. They want to follow them, feel for them, rise and fall with them and I think, through all its flaws, this is done in David.

I wonder how long a person can review theatre, day in and day out, weekend after weekend seeing show after show, before they become too jaded to see the beauty in anything. Not just the talent, not just the good story or strong direction, but the beauty. Art is beauty.