Why I enjoy watching plays

In the past year, I saw a lot of plays. I can’t remember them all, but I know the funniest play was An Order For Four at National Theatre Accra, and the best production I saw was Stranger Things on Broadway. I’m also lucky enough to live in London so most of my theatre outings have been fun - both on and off the West End.

There’s so many reasons I enjoy watching plays. For one, I really appreciate live art. I think it’s one of the truest shows of craftsmanship. That’s the same reason why I enjoy live comedy. As I’ve admitted to my friends, I’m in awe of how, regardless of the story or quality of the play, the acts have to remember their lines and do everything in one take, over multiple days, often running into months.

But the most important reason why I enjoy watching plays is the isolation from the outside world. As someone that can be stuck in an endless loop of conversations - from social media to Slack, I’ve come to appreciate the forced focus.

The theatre forces me to pay attention like no other form of media. Some of this is attributed to the unwritten rules of being in the theatre - some of which we have managed to preserve. Unlike with movies, everyone is still on the same page about not using the phone in the theatre. Take eating for another example. A lot of theatres let you eat during the play, but there’s some sort of code about keeping the munches quiet or you risk a number of foul looks from the seats to your left, right and front (maybe even from the seats behind you, but at least you can’t see them :/).

When I saw Hamlet, I had read the play before going to theatre because of how complex (Shakespearean purists, forgive me please) I’d found the writing in Shakespeare’s plays and how much I had previously struggled to settle into their productions. Still, that act of reading the lines ahead of time still didn’t shield me from the need to pay full attention, turn off all notifications on my phone, and ignore every other thought in my head, even if only for 2hrs30mins.

What happens for me in the aftermath of those “singular focus” hours is the transition into a reflective mood. I think better, not about the play or its elements, but about the world, my life and everything in between. I pick an element of life and direct that singular focus to it and I do get a lot of clarity from doing so.

I imagine that other people get this sort of focus satisfaction from other activities. Hopefully they’re leaning heavily into those activities. If you haven’t found what that activity is for you, maybe this is your cue to see a play.