The Antidote to the Theater of Misery: The Natural Theater

The play "Our Town" captures our shared humanity. A scene from the original Broadway production of “Our Town” with Frank Craven as the Stage Manager, Martha Scott as Emily Webb, and John Craven as George Gibbs. Public Domain

Look I know it’s not a perfect show . . . but none of that matters . . . it does what a musical is supposed to do . . . it gives you a little tune to carry in your head . . . A little something to help you escape from the dreary horrors of the real world.

It’s been 15 or so years since these lines were spoken by the “Man in Chair” in “The Drowsy Chaperone.”  Unfortunately, what struck me most upon seeing this otherwise fun and engaging musical were those final lines, particularly the bit about “the dreary horrors of the real world.” Is that true? Do we attend theater not simply to forget about our pedestrian trials and tribulations, but to evade a reality that is just too much to bear? In a world of “dreary horrors,” is there no hope?

For years, we have been told that the world—and especially the United States—is a rotten place, defined by bigotry, hypocrisy, and despair. This cheery view is often reflected in our theater, where miserable malcontents spend precious stage time lamenting their inadequacies and victimization, their failed relationships, and addictions.  About the best we can hope for, according to another inexplicably popular show, is to be “next to normal.”

Despite our being bombarded by this message day in and day out, it does not have to be the prevailing view in this country and certainly not one fostered by the arts.

Enter the Natural Theater

The Natural Theater takes its cue from the multiple meanings of the word “natural,” starting with its use by our country’s founding generation. We’ve all read (I hope) the Declaration of Independence, which references “the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” These laws endow all of us (yes, all of us!) with our natural, unalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This forms the philosophical underpinning of our nation, from which we get the Constitution as well as our unique and unprecedented approach to freedom.

Overall, it is a very positive but not Pollyannish view of life, one where we savor our liberty (after all, we were born with it) but recognize that we will struggle against our own natural tendencies as fallen human beings. As James Madison famously wrote (as Publius) in Federalist 51: “If Men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

The title page of the first edition of “The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, as Agreed Upon by the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787,” 1788, by Publius, a pseudonym for Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. Rare Books and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress. Public Domain

So, what has this brief history lesson to do with theater? Simply this: If we accept the idea that we are born free with natural rights, then we should expect this worldview to manifest itself in our cultural outcomes, including the arts.

What we should sense when we watch an American play is the underlying view that the world is not an irredeemably hostile place, but one where the failures of human beings cause a temporary disturbance that the action will sort out when the curtain comes down.

This is not automatically the recipe for a “happy ending,” however. It may be that the play ends with acceptance of the inevitabilities of life, with death a very real consequence. But even in death, something has either been set right or reaffirmed. To put Madison in a theatrical context, “if men were angels, no theater would be necessary.”

The plays of the Natural Theater place the source of adversity either within a society that separates itself from the laws of nature or in the individual who has pursued a course in life that distances him or her from an otherwise well-functioning civilization. The protagonists of the Natural Theater are not defined by their victimization but by their heroic qualities (Oh, to have heroes again!) and capacity for self-reflection.