Children playing in the sand
Image by  Avolore

Play Is Strange

A friend of mine is an amateur musical production.

[It is of a Gilbert and Sullivan era musical called “Florodora” - the first British musical to make it big on Broadway.  It is running for the next two weeks.  All those reading this who are near to Erskineville, Sydney, Australia in the next two weeks are expected to attend.]


My friend was telling me about a rehearsal - all the usual logistical and ego problems, when they remarked how strange acting is.  The more I thought about this the more intrigued I became.

Why would people put all this effort into dressing up and playing pretend?  They’re not making any money from it, it doesn’t provide them with food or clothing.  And its done mostly with strangers (this production is pulled together as a project - it’s not an ongoing group).  Why give up time with people who are already good friends and loved ones to get together with strangers and pretend?  For a couple of hours people will pretend that something they know doesn’t exist, never has, and never will, is real.  And people will pay to see them to do this.  It really is puzzling.  What could the attraction to this kind of thing be?

The first answer that occurred to me was entertainment.  And this certainly is true for the audience.  But it doesn’t begin to explain the attraction of acting or the dedication that people have to it.  People go through a lot of stress, for two or three months, to put on a few hours of theatre.  They could all far more easily watch TV.

I think part of the attraction is being part of a group with a common purpose.  To be part of a group like this I certainly find enlivening.  And it gives us something that we have far more control over than many other aspects of our lives.  There are many demands on us which we choose to go along with and that would require a good deal of energy to resist.  Projects like this give us a far higher degree of control than we often experience in our lives.  This can be thrilling.  But that doesn’t explain the attraction of the theatre.  Why not join Habitat for Humanity or do something that requires much less effort and stress?

Some people dedicate their lives to pigment on canvas or graphite on paper.  And it is all quite ‘useless’.

A musical, or dedicating one’s life to an art, is a big commitment.  Play occurs in small ways too.  When at the beach, we make sandcastles. 

I think all this does show us that Jesus was right when he said that, “[Mankind] does not live by bread alone.”  It also shows us that there is a pleasure in doing things - even things that are very hard work.  The idea that we just want to do the minimum to survive or be comfortable is spectacularly wrong.

Maybe we need to look more closely at what play is.  For me it is characterised by attentiveness and not being directed to an external reward.  When we become concerned for the reward then play is at an end.  People may be rewarded for playing but to introduce this to the playing destroys it.  Actors get awards for playing well, not for competing for the Oscar.

Play opens up a space in our lives.  It gives us a break from what is serious and important.  It is paying attention to what is happening, just because we find it interesting.  It has its own kind of seriousness, an attentiveness and focus, that is different to the seriousness of the rest of our lives.  It is a time set aside from scheduling and organising ourselves to achieve goals.  And it is refreshing.  We feel better after our times of ‘just playing’. 

Our schedules and goals can help us live more easily but I think it is play that adds lightness and joy to our lives.

Let me know about the place of play in your life.  Is it one thing you do (like a hobby or craft) or do you just like to muck about with what is around?  And how does play feel to you?  What is the experience of playing like for you?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

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