I just came back from a show that fully immersed me in a story. In a story of the unknown, of the foreign, of the fascinating, of the alien. It was called "A Fool's Life" by Ahuri Theatre.
The stories were Japanese in nature. Japanese settings, skills, families, locations. So I'm sure if I was Japanese it may have been less mystical and magical. But it got me thinking... Being immersed in a new culture's ideas, values, and stories sure feels a lot like being immersed in a fantasy world. The foreignness of the story and themes makes what is everyday to one magical to another.
In a sense, all one needs to write or create a good fantasy is to include the unknown. It could be an unknown culture, an unknown land, an unknown planet. But the unknown seems to generate the creative flow of our brains. When new pathways are being triggered, there are no conditioned responses. Emotions sneak up on you, you sit at the edge of your seat because you do NOT know the outcome! You are learning as you go. Good art should always be like this–unfolding a world in front of your eyes, keeping you IN THE MOMENT, in your feelings, in the space, in the world. Then thoughts cannot drift back to reality. That is its job, to keep your right brain active, give you reprieve from your left-brains dominance, remind you that you have another way of existing (of being and feeling), of connecting to others in your experience of the journey.
When people collectively have an experience they create a connection without meaning to–they have something to talk about, feelings can instantaneously be spoken about, deep parts of their minds get uncovered when they happen to meet in the bathroom after the show. When connected in experience people can bypass small talk, can jump straight to feelings, to preferences, to philosophies. It really is quite magical. We connect on a different level. Good art–in practice and performance–should connect people on this level. I hope to make art like this.
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