I hate the idea of theatre just being an evening pastime. It should be emotionally and intellectually demanding. I love football. The level of analysis that you listen to on the terraces is astonishing. If people did that in the theatre... but they don't. They expect to sit back and not participate.
Interpretation
Theatre should engage audiences deeply, similar to how sports fans engage with football.
In this quote, Sarah Kane expresses her disdain for the perception of theatre as mere entertainment. She argues that theatre should challenge and stimulate audiences emotionally and intellectually, akin to the analytical discussions that occur among football fans. It is a call for active participation and engagement rather than passive observation.
In practice
In a discussion about the role of theatre in society, this quote can highlight the need for deeper engagement.
I dread the loss of her I've never touched love keeps me a slave in a cage of tears I gnaw my tongue with which to her I can never speak I miss a woman who was never born I kiss a woman across the years that say we shall never meet Everything passes Everything perishes Everything palls my thought walks away with a killing smile leaving discordant anxiety which roars in my soul No hope No hope No hope No hope No hope No hope No hope
A small girl became increasingly paralysed by her parents' frequently violent rows. Sometimes she would spend hours standing completely still in the toilet, simply because that was where she happened to be when the fight began. Finally, in moments of calm, she would take bottles of milk from the fridge or doorstep and leave them in places where she may later become trapped. Her parents were unable to understand why they found bottles of sour milk in every room in the house.
It is myself I have never met whose face is pasted on the underside of my mind
Creativity is the residue of time wasted.
Music is, for me, like a beautiful mosaic which God has put together. He takes all the pieces in his hand, throws them into the world, and we have to recreate the picture from the pieces.
People expect things from art that are horrible for us who make it! They put the things we make in these restrictive places called 'museums,' then don't want to hear another word from us.
I thought Star Wars was too wacky for the general public.
Writers in repressive societies are considered dangerous. That's why so many of them are in jail.
Such labour'd nothings, in so strange a style, Amaze th' unlearn'd and make the learned smile.
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