Guthrie Discusses Role of Theatre

Sir Tyrone Guthrie had a capacity audience at the Loeb shaking with laughter yesterday as he mixed anecdotes and observations on the theatre in a 90 minute chat.

A well-known director and 'modernizer' of Shakespeare, Guthrie was in Cambridge to deliver the Theodore Spencer Memorial Lecture. His lecture was titled "The Illusion of Theatrical Illusion."

He razzed the "fashionable" New York audiences who insist on "identifying" with every character, and "intellectualizing" about every play. "Entertainment is not a dirty word," he said. "The deeper relevance of any play should not intrude into the appreciation of the performance at the theatre. It should wake you up at five a.m. four days later."

"A good audience is an entity, a rather mutton-headed mass which is readily swayed, will laugh--and cry--easily. A good performance transforms a thousand individuals into one monster: the audience," Guthrie said.

Reverting back to the title of the lecture, Guthrie said that the theatre should not try to recreate reality. "By the age of eight every child knows that the old lady swinging on the wire is not Peter Pan but Mary Martin."

The role of the director, Guthrie went on, is to coordinate the contributions of all the people involved in the play. There can never be a 'right' interpretation of any work, just as a good playwright can never explain exactly what he means to convey.