12:14pm Thursday 6th September 2007
A PLAY without an interval - can you think of any thing worse?
I read in The Guardian about Days of Wine and Roses, the current offering at the Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, which lasts two hours and has no interval.
I've never been to a play without an interval, thank goodness. I need a break to discuss the play, and for my companions to explain the plot.
And the traditional 20 minutes is a chance for social interaction and stretching. In fact, the inter val is often the best bit. For us interval aficionados, it would not matter terribly if there was no play.
All this recalls a piece of music called 4-33 and writ ten in 1952 by the avant garde composer, John Cage.
4.33 has no notes and no sound of any sort. It is total ly silent and you can guess how long it lasts. Cage said it had three movements.
Inspired by Cage's bril liance, I am hoping to inter est our own Theatre Royal in a play I am writing.
Two Hours and Twenty- one Minutes has no words and no stage directions.
There is no cast and the only action is the raising and lowering of the safety curtain.
This will be a very eco nomical production for the Theatre Royal, and it could generate useful publicity.
It will provide the audi ence with a chance for peace, meditation and some interesting coughing.
And imagine the excite ment when the curtain comes down for the interval.
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