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Why do we gather in groups?
More and more, we dont.
People are islands watching TV, telecommuting, getting food delivered in, sending data out.
Theater, though, is always madebya group of peoplefora group of people.
It turns out, yes, were present.
In fact, I never did figure out what the allegory was for.
Is the Man some kind of stand-in for Exxon?
Or the Tea Party?
Give us a little humor and that King James cadence, and well buy the store.
I will say transparency first that I voted for forgiveness.
An hour later, though, I started to think that Id raised my hand for the Old Deceiver.
One bad choice lasts forever; you cant take back a vote.
Many things block his creativity and passions, though, particularly the flask in his tweed jacket pocket.
This editing process seems to have destabilized the tricky balance between detail and substance.
Yet while Zaitchiks book lacks rhythm and momentum, the conceit does boast its own gravity.
Reframing the audience as members of a support group automatically changes the way we listen.
We lean forward; we grant the sympathy such a show might otherwise have trouble eliciting.
Sympathy is comparatively cheap, though.
How can a show make us really spend the coin of our intellect?
Theres a reason they call itpaying attention, and most of us are stingy customers.
Well, first of all, its a fiction.
Butlers fame as a public intellectual and academic might make us believe that this lecture represents Butlers own scholarship.
(Her not-an-actor awkwardness is utterly compelling onstage, almost a special effect.)
This latter element we only perceive in glimpses.
Sure, the interpersonal interscenes arent particularly evocative, but the fix seems so simple.
Sometimes we need time as a group to just sit and be quiet andthinkfor a minute.
Its terribly rare these days, but its a necessary space.
