Street Theater

We recently took in the Vevey Arts Festival, a juried performance art competition placing acts at various squares throughout town.

There was a cotton candy siting, so we went scouting for

Barbapapa! A French cartoon figure synonymous with cotton candy.

I know little of this family of globs but they're popular with the very young. Barbapapa is the pink dad (= cotton candy), followed by Barbamama the mom; each their own color and skill set.

Away from animation to the real. We were mesmerized by this Argentinian duo that performed for an hour. Several skits showcasing their acrobatic strength and flair for showmanship.

After 30 minutes of jawdropping feats, we were stunned

by the utter lack of artifice or effect,

simply drawing you into their human creativity and achievement.

It is possible to see this kind of legacy to the middle ages on the streets of Switzerland - the kind of art that surfaces in circus or Vaudeville - but I was brought up short as to my own need for gimmickry, technological pizazz. After 20 minutes of my own internal fidgeting the magic of this duo made its impact,

leaving me deeply moved at seeing how hard these individuals worked at their craft.

Being more accustomed to the way movies transport to distant times & places - helping (requiring us) to forget our existence - these theatrical performances rather reinscribe a common world between performer and audience.

Net result: Theater becomes a shared bond, less about fantasy, more about the magic of work; opening up the space you already inhabit - different than Narnia being accessed via a wardrobe you pass through. This is a dimension that liturgical practices are trying to bring into worship, as well these days; not just about - neither against, however - thinking or believing, but doing.

***

In a footnote to the legendary 1936 essay, "The Work of Art in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction," Walter Benjamin notes that stage actors - because they are real - lack the prodigious promotional industry that Hollywood studios invest in movie actors. Movie actors require publicity & rumor mills - we'll make you a star! It is the role of advertising to humanize what are, essentially, inanimate industrial products; making them heroic, as well as culturally palpable to the consumer - negotiate meaning.

Since our emotional and mental lives are increasingly dominated by media and imagemaking, it is tough to experience the 'magic of work,' either in everyday life or in worship. That space has been removed. Screen projections - up high at front or the IPAD in your lap - a symptom of the malady, not cure.