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Just as a cook creates delicious dishes with the available
ingredients, a dramatist provides the raw material for a play. However, it
is the actor who brings the play to life, like the person who enjoys and
advertises the food that the cook has prepared. While the dramatist may
write beautiful sentiments and expressions, it is the actor who gets into
the spirit of the character and depicts them in their truest form. The
audience experiences the emotions of the character through the actor's
performance, not just by reading the lines on paper.
An actor's ability to get into the character's spirit is what sets them
apart from the dramatist. The actor portrays the character's laughter,
tears, fights, and flaws, and allows the audience to experience the
character's true colors. The audience feels the same emotions as the actor,
and they become invested in the character's story. The actor's performance
is so powerful that they can make the audience laugh, cry, and even feel
sympathy or contempt for the character. In this way, the actor allows the
audience to enjoy and suffer vicariously.
Moreover, an adept actor can bring the lines of the play to life, taking the
audience along with them as the Pied Piper with their magical flute. The
audience becomes fully immersed in the play, without the need for additional
explanation. The characters come to life, and the audience can identify with
certain figures on stage, seeing them as similar to themselves or to people
in their daily lives. In fact, some Shakespearean characters have become
classical not just because they have been read about, but because
generations of people have seen them on stage.
In contrast, the dramatist is limited to writing the basic material for the
play. Although their writing may be beautiful, it can only be appreciated
through reading. The reader may enjoy the sentiments and expressions, but
will rarely be able to visualize the scene or get into the spirit of the
character. Even a critic, who reads with a purpose and assesses the flaws,
does not experience the same connection to the character as the audience.
Therefore, the actor provides what the dramatist cannot. They give life to
the play, bringing the characters and their stories to the audience in a way
that reading alone cannot achieve. The actor's performance is not only a
form of entertainment, but a means for the audience to connect with the
characters on a deeper level. The power of the actor to create an emotional
connection between the audience and the character is what makes plays such a
special and powerful art form. |
