Vicky's Manifesto

A play can be pretty much anything as long as it holds a story and characters. For instance, I recently saw a flamenco show with my spanish class. There was a particular dance with a man and a woman. There was no dialogue, however, the gestures, movements, and facial expressions of the dancers conveyed a story. First, there was the meeting of the man and the woman, the intertwining of their two beings in love, lovers quarrels, and a disgruntled yet captured embrace at the end. To me, this dance was a play. It felt like a play. I think partially because it touched me emotionally and partially because of the fact that it told a story without coming up front and telling me. It conveyed its meaning more subtly. I think, in essence, that is what a play is. A subtle telling of life or of lives. However, this definition makes me want to force myself to dismember that concept. I think you could generally say the same of novels, that they're a telling of life or of lives, and yet one of my favorite books, Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo, is about death rather than life. I guess I don't really think I can really define a play because art can become anything you want it to be. There's a street artist who makes installments using garbage bags. If I presented someone with a garbage bag they wouldn't consider it art, but you can take it and make it art. I don't see why one couldn't do the same in a play.