Post #5

The first example that comes to my mind is a play that we performed in high school. The play was The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. The play was about a group of students putting on a play about the story of Christmas for their school. In the play, baby Jesus in the manger was actually a baby doll. I thought about this choice because obviously it was effective and makes the most sense to have a baby doll represented as Jesus rather than an actual baby. And the doll representing Jesus was essential to the play because since it is a play about a play they reference the actual baby doll. However, when the characters are performing their play it makes the most sense to not have this aspect in full, naturalistic form. This would be an example of dark matter because you just imagine that baby Jesus is actually in the manager, although it is known that he is not.

I think that abstraction in the theatre world is a very powerful tool. You can show sorrow, pain and devastation without knowing that the people you are watching are actually experiencing this. You also don't always see what left them in this state. I think that Theatre, definitely in relation to the Holocaust, does not need to show all the gruesome details to be effective. I think that it is just as powerful to use representation and abstraction to tell a powerful story that can never be forgotten.