They Mysteries - 8

Many of my classmates have expressed their distaste for the video of the three plays. However, I must say that I actually enjoyed watching the Mysteries. Even though it was a video recording, I believe the plays came to life on screen and told a series of familiar stories from the Bible in interesting and new ways. Through the use of the surrounding audience members and an abstract set, I feel that the three plays did a great job of engaging the audience and their imaginations.
In watching the Mysteries, one would immediately notice that the stage on which the actors perform is surrounded by audience members – many of whom sit/stand on stage within arm’s length of the actors. The actors were even moving and performing with the audience during the performance. Multiple times throughout the play, actors would go up to members of the audience and speak to them or joke with them. At one point an actor even jokingly pulled a bra out of his pocket pretending it was the woman’s in the audience. In watching this interaction, I realized that the closeness of the audience was not merely for the sake of acoustics. I saw that the audience was moving and responding to the play. They were no longer spectators, but witnesses; they were in the action, and not just outside of it. I became fascinated with watching how the audience responded and interacted with the actors; and I saw that having the audience so close to the performers served to engage them in the action more so than if they were just sitting off stage.
In addition to engaging the audience physically through interaction, I felt that the Mysteries plays engaged the audience mentally through the abstract set. Before I saw the video recordings, I did not expect to see an abstract portrayal of biblical stories. However, after seeing the plays I understand that by leaving the set somewhat abstract and simple, the audience can therefore envision the religious stories as they see fit. The nativity scene where Mary gives birth to Jesus is an example of this. In this scene Mary simply takes out strips of cloth from under her shirt and folds them up to look like a baby. This is unlike the typical nativity scene with a manger and a baby. However, I understand the simplicity of this portrayal really lets the audience imagine the birth as they believe it to be, and not just watch someone else’s interpretation. In other words, the abstractness of the set helps to engage the audience’s imagination, instead of just presenting the audience with an elaborate setting.
All in all, I believe that the Mysteries plays were very entertaining. However, more than entertaining, they were engaging. The performers and crew did an excellent job of involving the audience physically as well as stimulating their imagination.