Actor, director and playwright Steven Berkoff talks to Matthew Stadlen about why theatre matters, directing his own performances, the appeal of performing a one man show and what total theatre is.
The skating world is of two minds about Weir: drawn to his singular personality and graceful style, concerned that his showiness will overwhelm the appeal of his performance.
But one couldn't help thinking that anyone new to the art form would have been utterly unable to understand the appeal of this performance.
Plus, the inherent elitism of these one-spectator shows – only a handful of people get to see them – also seems counter to the spirit of theatre; one of the main appeals of live performance in our narcissistic and fragmented iPod culture is that it brings people together to experience art communally.
The appeal of a free performance in a heated barn may be obvious.
O.K., enough of the spiritual semiotics, although these visual correspondences between a show and its environment do feed into the appeal of this particular performance.
In an age where numbers matter and funding is largely driven by statistics and other tangible measures of performance, appeals made on behalf of legacy, which was once one of the bedrock defenses for maintaining HBCUs, are far less compelling.
There's a chilling line in Antony Hegarty's signature tune, "Hope There's Someone," that sums up the appeal of this former downtown performance artist turned angelic crooner.
When user preference/satisfaction is more important than task performance the appeal of the simple hierarchy layout may supersede the cost in performance it entails.
If you've never wanted to run away and join the circus, if you have no interest in the arcane skills of tumblers, gimps, magicians, music hall and sideshow folk, if the art and craft and illusions of performance hold no appeal for you – then you probably won't like Funny Bones.
