When back pain caused by the seating at a play takes
attention away from the play, then the attempt at making the experience
authentic via rustic seating has failed. You may as well chuck real
spears into the audience if you are going that route.
Check the buzz on twitter. If reporters
are writing about how bad the seating was instead of what they thought
of the play, you could have scrimped on rehearsal, special effects and
other production costs because an audience with their heads between
their knees or hoping to find a motrin dispenser in the restroom, isn't
really paying attention.
Macbeth himself felt more comfortable about back support than the audience when he said:
"Ring the alarum-bell! Blow wind, come wrack,
At least we'll die with harness on our back."
One wonders if Sir Branagh smiled when he delivered that line and if anyone in the audience laughed. Authentic seating begs for authentic rotten eggs, cabbages and tomatoes. Sometimes authentic is too much of a distraction.
Exeunt
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