Photo: Hamilton on Broadway (Broadway.com), 2024

Why Theatre?

Daveed Diggs as Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton on Broadway. Observer Backstage Interview, 2016

There isn’t a single word in the English language that perfectly describes the euphoria and transcendence that is felt after leaving the theatre. When leaving the theatre, I feel inspired, motivated, hopeful. It feels like I was able to escape reality and re-emerge with a deeper connection to something. It is felt much more deeply with theatre than movies or other TV- perhaps this is due to the personal, intimate nature of the performance and the lack of fourth wall. Quite frankly, I don’t think there is any other form of media that could make me, a mid-twenties Canadian woman, feel so emotionally invested in America’s founding fathers or the six dead wives of England’s King Henry VIII. So deeply so that theatre has shaped my perception of Thomas Jefferson, making me picture him more so as a charismatic, flamboyant black man, as portrayed by Daveed Diggs in Hamilton, rather than his historical reality as a white, southern slave owner. Theatre has made it so that many Americans only knowledge about Newfoundland is the Dover Fault and the name of Town of Gander’s former Chief of Police.

In musical theatre, stories are told through carefully and meticulously written lyrics, musical arrangement and choreography. As Hannah Sachs writes eloquently in her essay about her experiences with her two passions; “Both religion and theatre often share a common understanding that truth cannot be contained solely within literal facts: we need creative images in order to catch a fleeting glimpse of reality” (2016). Peter Brook (1968) coined the term “The Holy Theatre”. He states in his book The Empty Space “I am calling it the Holy Theatre for short, but it could be called The Theatre of the Invisible-Made-Visible: the notion that the stage is a place where the invisible can appear has a deep hold on our thoughts.” For a very long time, musical theatre has been used as a medium of expression which includes political and social narratives. Theatre has major potential to influence and impact society, politics and history as it has affected these aspects in the past and continues to create a significant impact (Henshaw, 2016).

Town of Dover, Newfoundland. (n.d), https://dovernewfoundland.com/the-dover-fault/

References:

Brook, P. (1968). The empty space. Atheneum.

Henshaw, A. J. (2016). How has Musical Theatre been used to project political, social and historical themes?.

Observer Backstage. (2016). Interview with Daveed Diggs [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OBn7lCWtM8

Sachs, H. (2016). The religious nature of theatre, the theatrical nature of religion. HowlRound Theatre Commons. https://howlround.com/religious-nature-theatre-theatrical-nature-religion

Town of Dover. (n.d.). The Dover Fault. Retrieved March 12, 2025, from https://dovernewfoundland.com/the-dover-fault/