I have just returned from a fabulous production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, starring Penelope Keith, currently playing at the Theatre Royal in Bath. Last minute tickets are truely a fantastic blessing!
I say this not to envoke jealousy (although it really was a very good show!). I mention it because something occurred to me as I returned with my young ward on the Number 5 bus…
The Number 5 bus is not the most inspiring place in the world. A journey on it can be called a life experience, but that is as far as it goes. However, on this particular journey, I observed that the production was far funnier than the recent film production. My neighbour’s daughter is a big fan of the film (mainly because the cast list includes Colin Firth), but even she agreed with me that the play was much funnier. The whole audience was laughing all the way through, in fact. The lines were the same, the sets pretty much the same… but it just seemed to provoke more outright laughter.
It occurred to me that this is true of many plays and films: if you watch as part of a community, you gain more from the experience – particularly with humorous pieces. You don’t need to know the other people in the audience, or even speak to them (except to apologise for squishing past them to get to the loo in the interval – of which there were 2 on this occasion). Being with other people who are laughing and sharing the experience makes it a more involved experience than simply being a passive observer in front of a small screen.
Maybe it is this community of viewing that humour on the web is missing – although there are admittedly some very funny things out there. Maybe the experience could be enhanced by watching in real time with other people… hearing them laugh, being able to whisper cynical comments to them, or even pull faces at them. I know we can already participate in group events such as concerts in Second Life, but are we really experiencing the presence of others? Or are we just seeing animated representations of these others and being left to imagine the web of people around us – prehaps speculating who is really there and who has popped away from their machine to make a cup of tea?
Personally, I would prefer to have the real contact – prehaps by combining a VoIP feature. Wouldn’t it be great if you could choose who to sit next to at an online event… see their faces by webcam and “whisper” to them directly whilst watching a performance… hear the laughter and mutterings of the rest of the audience… prehaps have a scheduled break for ice cream…
Maybe one day we will. I’m not sure whether I would participate, or whether I would still hop on the Number 5 down to the proper theatre with its confined seating and exorbitant ice cream prices. I would just be interested to see whether the live element really makes things funnier or whether it was just the fantastic skill of Penelope Keith…
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