Agnieszka Sękiewicz‑Magoń A Play Is Not Only Acting

“All the world’s a stage.” This famous quotation by William Shakespeare can be interpreted in various ways, because - just like theatre itself - there is so much meaning put into it. Theatre does something which seems to be impossible: it allows you to be present and escape the present moment at the same time. When we watch actors play on the stageplay on the stageplay on the stage, we forget about the world around us and, for some time, we live the lives and emotions of the characters played by them, no matter whether it’s a tragedytragedytragedy or a comedycomedycomedy.

While enjoying a play in the theatre, we don’t think about all the work put into its production. This is a long process, which begins with finding the right scriptscriptscript and finishes with the first nightfirst nightfirst night. Along the way, there are so many things which need to be done: decisions about the artistic vision and the available budget must be made. The the team of collaborators such as the lighting crew, the stage crew and the dressersdressers [dresser]dressers must be chosen, and auditionsauditions, [audition]auditions must be organised to choose the castcastcast. The rehearsalsrehearsals [rehearsal]rehearsals must be regularly held, so that the actors could memorise their lines and moves. All the propsprops [prop]props and decorations must be prepared with attention to detail, which is especially important in the case of a costume playcostume playcostume play, because the setsetset must recreate the atmosphere of a specific time and space of the action. Every actor must study their rolestudy their rolestudy their role carefully before the last dress rehearsaldress rehearsaldress rehearsal, during which they act in costumes, with props and all the set elements ready, imitating the exact conditions of a live production.

During the opening nightopening nightopening night, the emotions in the wingsin the wingsin the wings are so intense that you can feel them in the air. The director is nervous. The actors are revising their lines for the last time, sitting in their dressing roomsdressing rooms [dressing room]dressing rooms and trying hard to overcome stage frightstage frightstage fright. The hardest work, however, is done by the people behind the curtains, who are handling costumes, lights, setting up propsprops [prop]props and more. It doesn’t seem as glamorous as being in the light onstageonstageonstage, but without the help of backstage staff, the show wouldn’t go on and be as flawlessflawlessflawless as it is. Then, the curtain is upthe curtain is upthe curtain is up and it’s time to go on stage. The show is on.

Once the play comes to an end, the moment of truth comes: will the play be a hit or will it turn out to be a flopflopflop? Will the actors get a standing ovationstanding ovationstanding ovation at the end and have numerous curtain callscurtain calls [curtain call]curtain calls, or will the audience stay indifferentindifferentindifferent? Of course, it mostly depends on good acting and cooperative effort of the whole group of people involved in the production of the play, but there is one more factor that can add to the success - publicitypublicitypublicity. Publicity should be ongoingongoingongoing for several weeks, leading up to the first production, and it may involve fliersfliers [flyer]fliers, newspaper coveragenewspaper coveragenewspaper coverage, paid advertisements, posting trailers, “sneak peeks” behind the scenesbehind the scenesbehind the scenes, organising contests and anything else the producer can do to draw the audience for the play. It really helps to get people to talk about the production even before it is shown, and to make them interested in it. If accomplished, all this hard work should pay offpay offpay off in the end, and bring satisfaction and fame to actors, producers, directors, and other people involved in the whole process.

1 Źródło: Agnieszka Sękiewicz‑Magoń, dostępny w internecie: How To Produce a Play , https://www.wikihow.com/Produce-a-Play [dostęp 1.03.2022], Top 10 theatre superstitions , https://www.capitaltheatres.com/about/stories/top-10-theatre-superstitions [dostęp 1.03.2022], licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.