Last week, I trekked down to the Orange Tree Theatre to see the recast revival of Deborah Bruce’s The Distance, which had first been staged there in October 2014. As chance would have it, it was one of my best theatre experiences of the year. Why’s that? Well, because of the audience of course.
I’ve been to this venue many times, but this is the first time in my experience that the audience really rocked. The laughter was loud and spontaneous, there were audible gasps at the moments of revelation and a loud hum of recognition when one of the characters made a comment about another’s internet search history. With this audience, it really felt as if we were all together, in a ship, rocking on the seas, in the same boat. What a night. Great.
Aleks Sierz FRSA is a theatre critic, and author of the seminal study of new 1990s playwrights, In-Yer-Face Theatre. His other books include Rewriting the Nation, The Theatre of Martin Crimp, John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger, The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrights and Modern British Playwriting. His latest book (co-authored with Lia Ghilardi) is The Time Traveller’s Guide to British Theatre. He also works as a journalist, broadcaster, and lecturer. Aleks blogs independently at www.sierz.co.uk and tweets at @alekssierz.
