Life Issues - The Play’s The Thing

What makes a man want to stand up on a stage in front of a load of strangers and pretend to be someone else for an hour or so? Many of us have dreamt of becoming rich and famous, to be idolised by people the world over. But to most of us that’s all it is - a dream and not something that we would seriously consider. In fact there are many people who run at the very sight of a camera!

But there are people who want to become actors, who want to share their talent with audiences and be the next ‘it’, person or the one with the ‘X’ factor.

In places like Los Angeles there are more actors out of work than in work and a lot of the time you can meet these budding actors all around the town. Waiters, barmen and shop workers all wander to work and back in a starry eyed daze and go to auditions in their lunch hours, convinced that they will meet a famous Hollywood Producer in the street and be ‘discovered’.

There is often a certain amount of ego involved in believing that you are good enough to portray another character and there is also an amount of insecurity involved in wanting to be acknowledged by other people all the time.

This is most definitely the case with Brandon in The Play’s The Thing who believed that he was the best actor the world had seen even though he was playing in small towns around Australia and not in Broadway or the West End. He was almost addicted to the sound of applause and would go to any lengths (including faking a heart problem and taking Jess’ money) to make sure that he would be able to continue to perform and receive the adulation and undivided attention of the crowds.

Brandon knew deep down that he was no Laurence Olivier but he still believed that he might, just might be discovered one day. Anyway, he preferred his make-believe world with his little group of travellers to the real one and loved the fact that he could preen and parade amongst his colleagues and be pampered and placated by them; safe in the knowledge that he was famous - if not the world over, at least amongst those in his own theatre company.

Some people give up on their dreams totally whilst some will hold on to dreams that have no hope of becoming a reality. Some will do whatever they can to scratch and crawl their way to the top, giving up on all morals and values along the way.

But some learn the valuable lesson that they can still have their dreams without having to succumb to temptations and wrongdoings along the way.

The decision would be up to you – but we would suggest that it would be far better to have dreams and go about trying to achieve them without hurting others along the way than doing whatever you can just to make sure that your dream turns into a reality.

And don’t forget, as John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans."

Seize the day, don’t dwell on dreams too much and enjoy what you have!