I am not sure why it is that most political theatre seems self-congratulatory and naive. I mean, it works so well in all the theatres: theatre revealing truths about social structure, theatre building community and solidarity, theatre urging us toward either critical thinking or radical action, pick your theory, really. Even with the best intentions, however, theatre seems to be at best a venue for preaching to the converted – and I emphasize at best. The current production of Hair by the Public Theatre in Central Park is seemlessly professional, artistically flawless (besides the over-amplification, my ears still hurt) and outspokenly political. However, it still seems like a mindless distraction which merely reconfirms its audience in their professed liberalism.
Of course, it’s an anti-war musical, and of course it ends with the hero, in uniform, lying dead on the American flag. And then the lights go down, and the audience is invited to come to the stage and BOOGY!? Thanks for the catharsis! I suppose dance can be a form of protest, but I’m not sure this qualifies. I think the conversations had while waiting in line for five hours to get (free) tickets were much more politically productive, at least in my part of the line. Of course once the show is transferred to Broadway on a $110 ticket, even that aspect will disappear.
The greatest irony was that the pre-show speech combined the task of marking the political relevance of the musical (ie reminding the audience that there’s a war going on) with that of thanking Bank of America for its kind sponsorship: Hosannah Rockefeller!
