Departing from the Delacorte Theatre over the weekend, I was struck by a phenomenon that may be unique to that outdoor theatre, namely the experience of leaving a theatre in unison with my fellow theatergoers for a sustained period of time.
Obviously in any theatre, we exit en masse, but in virtually every case I can think of, the moment we’re out the theatre doors, the audience scatters to the four winds. Even in places where there are multiple theatres in close proximity, be it a performing arts center or 45th Street in Manhattan, the audience buzz begins to dissipate almost immediately.
Because the Delacorte is a ways in to Central Park, the audience must walk out together, and there are very few common routes, especially at 11 pm at night. So even after leaving the Delacorte, they move together in a thick and steady stream for perhaps five minutes of group perambulation if they’re headed to Central Park West (I’ve never headed east after a show) and the shared reactions to the show are sustained in a scrum of what can truly be called theatre traffic.
Many theatres offer post-performance discussions at various shows, to allow the audience an opportunity to talk about what they’ve just seen, or to learn more about it. But thanks to the theatre that Joseph Papp created in the midst of New York’s great oasis of carefully designed nature, and by virtue of its location within the park, the most organic post-performance discussion imaginable springs to life after every show at the Delacorte, in a frenzy of opinion and enthusiasm. And for avid theatergoers, that is truly a midsummer night’s dream.
Posted on Wednesday, September 5th, 2007 at 10:11 am
by
Howard Sherman
Filed under:
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