Theatre is the ancient but ever - youthful parent of all entertainment in dramatic form. It has existed on and off for two-and-a-half thousand years because there is something special to itself that it offers us.
But what is it that is special about the theatre? A famous playwright Priestly compares theatre with the restaurant. In a very good restaurant we have a dinner that is specially cooked for us; in a canteen we are merely served with standard portions of a standard meal. And this is the difference between the living Theatre and the mass entertainment of films, radio and television. In the theatre the play is specially cooked for us.
To enjoy the theatre we have to join it. Today theatre is at some kind of crisis. The houses are alarmingly empty. Many other forms of entertainment have superseded theatre. There are many who do not care whether theatre lives or dies. This is causing anxiety. The main reason for that is that our cultural level is painfully low. It’s impossible to survive without culture. School is responsible for awakening a child’s interest to theatre, it’ necessary to instil into people, into their consciousness the love to the theatre.
I do believe that the situation will change to the better. Theatre will never die. For some people it died long ago, - for people who are poorly developed emotionally, they simply do not understand the Theatre, as they do not understand painting, serious music. But theatre is eternal. The atmosphere in theatre is solemn. It’s the magical place where man meets his image, where people are taught to appreciate the beauty, to hate the evil, ugliness, where feelings are stirred, where our souls and mind are elevated. It is the enduring home of dramatic experience, which is surely one of the most searching, rewarding, enchanting of our many different kinds of experience.