Living in the Future

As a kid in the 80s respirating the arts as much as oxygen, the world was a marvelous place. The news reports hyped the latest New York productions in such a way to make me think that Broadway was an entire city unto itself and not just a few blocks of a famed avenue. Cats was huge. I loved the four legged kind that watched soaps with me after school so it stood to reason that I would love the play. And when we got hip deep into PBS the Metropolitan Opera shared a few of its productions with the world. For a long time I was a total stage production junkie. I read about West End productions in London in the national new papers, listened to the public radio station for any word that a production might be shown on PBS. And I dreamed of one day seeing a show.

The only problem with that is living in northern michigan with a high school babysitters income and parents who were deathly afraid to let me be five blocks from the house without supervision. That fear also made it really hard for me as I became as fearful about being that far from home on my own. By the time I started to venture out into the brave new world of independence I was so excited by my local environs I forgot about theater shows. At least until there was the Internet.

But before the the Internet there was Star Trek the Next Generation. A new Enterprise with new gadgets and new toys. The best new toy... the Holodeck. And with the advent of the holodeck my dreams of being able to travel without leaving home were finally possible. At least, it was possible in theory. And validating. Others were thinking what I was thinking. See the worlds without leaving home. But in 1987 that was still just a fantasy, we didn't have the technology.

It is 2015 and we have the technology.
We don't always have the cooperation of international trade, production houses and individual producers. But we have the technology.

Today we are watching a production from the Old Vic Theater in London, Arthur Miller's Crucible. We read it in school. I didn't really understand much of it when we were in school. And with Richard Armitage's appearance on stage I understand what it is I missed. Every girl in Salem had a crush on John Proctor. And the whole thing revolves around one crazy girl with a crush and a man who couldn't let go of a spirtely teenager. That is the crux of the story. And it is little wonder that I didn't understand it when we were in school. But I understand completely now, looking at Richard Armitage on the stage, just exactly what is happening here.

My God, I hope there are very few crazily obsessed fans in his army as this nutter is obsessed John Proctor. Armitage will have no peace if the fans go nuts like this.