I'm reminded most of Witmore's
"Phatic Metadrama," when he talks about a play by Francis Beaumont. The
play, called "The Knight of the Burning Pestle", was not at all
successful, probably because of how convoluted the plot was, but
Beaumont uses a theatrical device that may have harmed the play. We meet
George and Nell, a grocer and his wife, who make their way onstage and
start to derail the play. Instead of an adult audience experiencing a
child's performance, we are given a comic middleman to point out things
about the child's performance. "The child, as child, no longer plucks
the string that once stretched between his own peculiar presence and his
auditor's engaged senses."
Similarly, my excitement of watching a
little girl tackle a difficult song is replaced by laughter and
discomfort as she tries to strangle a dog into staying put. I know that this little girl is not a trained actor, and can't just improv a line to the tune of, "Oh, he's always running off like that" while a stagehand shoos the dog back onstage. She has only her lines, and her obvious nervousness makes me nervous for her. I'm no
longer immersed in the story, I'm watching the middleman, the dog- who
doesn't comment on the show like George or Nell, but just as constantly
reminds me that I'm watching a play. And wondering if they should have
used cut-up hot dogs as treats.
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