Theatre is...

It being a very hot day, I am too lazy to come up with my own ideas. So I am going to piggy-back on Eve Nicol's thoughts, and see where I go.

Eve just put out a blog post which asked the following question.

“Just what is theatre anyway?”

She goes on to quote Kenneth Tynan. Tynan tends to be the only critic who ever gets quoted in academic circles, so I guess he is a good place to start. 

Waiting for Godot frankly jettisons everything by which we recognise theatre. It arrives at the custom-house, as it were, with no luggage, no passport, and nothing to declare; yet it gets through, as might a pilgrim from Mars. It does this, I believe, by appealing to a definition of drama much more fundamental than any in the books. A play, it asserts and proves, is basically a means of spending two hours in the dark without being bored. . . . It forced me to re-examine the rules which have hitherto governed the drama; and, having done so, to pronounce them not elastic enough. (1955)

Well, Eve notes quickly notes that

One member of the group challenged this by reminding that in the past two years little of the work she’s made has been performed in the dark... Instead her work has taken place on the streets, in public parks and in the earphones of audience members but it is all still theatre.

Although it would be wonderful to think that Tynan, the doyen of many a contemporary critic, had some idea of what he was talking about, the definition fails on more levels than this. Waiting for Godot frankly jettisons nothing by which we recognise theatre. It has a script. It has actors, who have learnt their lines. It is aware of theatrical traditions, which it uses to amuse (the gag about how the biggest insult is 'critic' ought to have tipped off Tynan). Of course, in subsequent years, the site-specific play (not in a traditional theatre), the devised work (no template script), the various mixing and matching of genres (Dance Theatre? American Modern Dance? Verbatim Theatre?) became more important, but even in 1955 it must have been possible to imagine theatre far more alien than Godot.

Unless, of course, Tynan's imagination was otherwise engaged. 

It's worth looking at the mess Tynan makes of the definition. He slips between 'theatre,' 'drama' and 'play' as if they are interchangeable. Eve later ponders

 the only thing you could comfortably call “Theatre” is a building, with an auditorium and seats. It’s not necessarily even for live performance. The US uses “theatre” to describe a cinema.

And she is already three steps ahead of Tynan. She's closer to the definition, etymologically speaking. It goes back to one of the ancient Greek verbs for 'watching,' and it is a place where watching happens. 

The heat is getting to me... but I'd say that using the word 'theatre' to describe the art form isn't that helpful... and I'd say that it is also time that Tynan was replaced by a new critic. I mean, he didn't ever give plays a rating out of pants, or use cats to explain an emotional response...