Live entertainment is one of the great pleasures of life and an experience I have once again enjoyed several times during these last few weeks.
At one position on the theatrical scale, there was the Royal Shakespeare Company and, on another, the musical, Mary Poppins. Then Elkie Brooks, who at 80 is still ‘singing songs and telling jokes’, as her most famous song put it. Coming up later in the year, it’ll be punk rockers The Stranglers and the Buzzcocks and in contrast (although, as you’ll know if you’ve ever seen them) the not totally unconnected, Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.
On another scale (in terms of audience size) there were people like poet Richard Skinner and singer/songwriters Axford & Robinson who joined me in the recent Book Launch events (watch some edited highlights here.) And then the acts who took part in a Sober Open Mic Night – many of whom were recovering addicts – and there are other events featuring local talent coming up.
Having now reviewed the book I mentioned in a previous post I’ve moved on to Keeping the Ink Wet by UK-born, Vancouver-based priest, playwright and director, Kevin G Yell. (Read the review here.)
In this book, he explores what the theatre can teach the Church about worship. There are, of course, clear differences between being an actor on a stage and leading a service in a church – but there are also similarities. Both are playing a part.
There is a strong element of performance. But more than that, Yell argues, in both theatre and church, there is a clear intention: to enable those present to not simply sit as casual onlookers but to actively experience something. And to be drawn in to that experience with a gathered community of other people.
In theatre, the script is central. In church, we might call this the liturgy (although as he points out somewhat astutely, ‘God does not need liturgy, only the people do’). This is the invitation to the experience.
Yell’s key point for those leading worship, preaching or presiding is in the book’s title: Keeping the Ink Wet. It’s perhaps not dissimilar to a previous post, The Spoken Word. That our response to the invitation is to experience the word of the Lord in a way that makes the words live.
‘Another way to think about this invitation is to approach each text every time as if the ink was still wet,’ he writes, ‘as if we were the first person ever to see and then say those words in public.’
And thus for everyone else present – the audience, the congregation – to be ones who hear those words as if for the first time. One that draws us in to an experience where we are not simply casual onlookers but by being in a gathered community of other people, we all play a part.
My new book, Hopes and Expectations is the third in the Eastwood Story series of novellas. Stories of love and loss, tears and laughter, grief and joy. Stories of hope over adversity – and with happy endings! All the books are on special offer – so do take a look.
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Details of all my books can be found at richardfrostauthor.com.