And so, our last school play comes to an end. After months of preparation and hardships, it was all over in only 3 days. 


It was the first time I actually got to see the play, since in previous years I had to act, and was limited only to my own experience in the scenes in order to measure the degree of success we had achieved on said play. I had high expectations in terms of being able to watch the play this time, to be able to see all of our work as if through the eyes of the spectator, and enjoy it as one would.


But as always, reality was far from what I expected, while watching the play I was not able to see it as a spectator would, maybe because I had seen it many times before, maybe because I was focused on the things that could or did go wrong, but I could only see actors on a stage instead of characters in a story. I was not able to experience the thrill I do whenever I go see a play, to be transported to a place that doesnt exist, where gradually you begin to forget you're sitting in a chair in an auditorium and all that exists are ideas, expressed through characters situations and the relationship between what you see and hear and what you feel.


What I experienced these past three days, was only the continuation of my everyday experience, I guess i was completely concious that what I was seeing was completely real, in the sense that I was not able to immerse myself in the fiction, I was not able to play the part of the audience. So I realized that the audience plays a crucial role in theatre, not only as a measure of success but because it is their experience that we seek when we make a play.


Overall the comments ive heard about the play are fairly mixed, some really liked certain parts, specially the shadow puppets scene, and some told me that due to pronunciation issues some bits were confusing and difficult to understand. And even though I appreciate positive comments, I feel relieved when I hear criticism, because it is the only way to really know what the audience thought was lacking or went wrong, and its only through mistakes that we can improve.


If a play is seen as a failure to the director or people involved in the production of the play because of technical issues or sloppy acting, but seems to have been a success to the audience, who's opinion counts the  most, the one thats coming form a person that has seen an unexpressed potential, or from the one who is oblivious of the whole process but enjoys the final product.