Sad as it is to say, I have decided not to go to any more live theatre. Or at least, I am cutting it down to a bare minimum. There are a number of reasons for this, but the main one is I simply can't hear much of the dialogue anymore. It's a combination of my increasing deafness, and the utter lack of skill in most stage actors to make themselves heard.
To be honest, I believe most of the problem lies with the latter, rather than the former. I believe this because I will often hear one or two actors perfectly clearly through the whole show, and their castmates, not so much. And I find I hear older actors better than younger ones, although this is by no means an absolute. It's turning me into a cranky old guy, and it's making my evenings in the theatre frustrating and pointless.
Let's face it, David Mamet is right, at least on this point. He said if you stand on a stage in a large theatre and you can't make yourself heard in the last row, get off the stage, because your training isn't over. Actors have gotten by for thousands of years without amplification...why do we subsidize this amateurish lack of attention to craft? I remember in my early days on the Schiller Park stage, the company had one body mic, but most of us didn't want it. Because to use it was to acknowledge you weren't skilled enough to make yourself heard across that large expanse of grass. Plus, a body mic taped to the face, or peeking out of the hair, is an eyesore.
I mean, it's a baseline skill--it's like not being able to draw and yet calling yourself a painter. I know lots of people who who paint abstracts, not because that's where their artistic sensibilities, after years of exploration, have led them, but because that's all they can do. I consider that invalid. Picasso could draw you as you stood there, photographically. He chose not to. He grew beyond it. If you are an actor, and can't or won't bother to learn to project, do TV or film or webcasts.
Of course, when I complain about this, I get the pained look, as if they are saying, "silly man...don't you know stage projection is old fashioned and out of date?" And you know who thinks this? People who CAN'T project.
I can't remember a single play I have seen in the last few years in which I heard everyone clearly. Unacceptable. Especially at today's ticket prices. Some theatres have headphones that they issue to help the hard of hearing, and Dani got a pair for me at the last show we saw at CATCO, but after a while, I took them off. Why should I go to the actors? It's their job to come to me. It's their job to bring their voices to my lone ear. If they can't or won't, then why should I help them in their amateurish ways?
I've tried to support my pals in the theatre, and attend their plays, but I just can't any more, sad to say. It makes me too angry. To any of my buds reading this post: you are not required to see me when I perform--let's just call it a wash.
