Theatre of the Good

(In 2000 & 2001, Douglas Abel, a drama educator and playwright living in Ft. McMurray, Alberta, wrote two Soliloquy columns for Theatre Alberta News which he entitled “Theatre of the Good.” Here are a some thought-provoking excerpts from his columns:)

[Theatre of the Good] involves the conviction that theatre can, and must, do good for people and for the world, that it must strive to make both better. Theatre can be used for trivial, frivolous or even harmful purposes. It should be used to promote the good in all its forms. That purpose comprises its link to the divine, and comes, somehow, from the same spiritual sources that drive the best “religious” impulses. Theatre people are missionaries because they are doing the same essential work as those who spread “the word.”

… Theatre of the Good does not eliminate comedy, entertainment, enjoyment, mischief, wonder or plain fun. It does give all these things a purpose, as well as a standard against which both day-to-day and long-term work can be judged. It provides a benchmark for deciding what work should be chosen for performance, and how it should be performed.

Theatre of the Good need not consist merely of problem plays, tragedies and biting social criticism. It can provide escape and relief from everyday cares, can mock, criticize, laugh with or laugh at. But it does all these things with core questions in mind: how does this work serve, in whatever way, to improve the people it affects? What does it give them that will make them, and the world they live in, better as a result of their experience? If the answer is that the particular work will not produce some kind of potential “benefit”, some kind of “making of good,” then Theatre of the Good will respond, “Better then, to do something else.” It reminds us that it is not enough just to fill seats, and that theatre is not just a business—or that its business is not just commercial. (Theatre Alberta News, Winter 2000/2001:3)

Theatre of the Good tells the truth. … It presents works of imagination that are firmly grounded upon accurate perceptions and expressions of the truth of human existence.