The Guthrie has several different kinds of talkbacks. The ones we do most often are for student audiences. Every student performance concludes with a talkback, which is always really interesting because the kids naturally have questions about the play they saw, and especially for those who have an interest in pursuing acting or other work in theatre, it’s a chance to talk to working professionals about how they got where they are, what kind of training or experience they had, and so forth. Sometimes the conversation takes unexpected turns, but a student talkback usually lands on a more predictable set of questions because there are certain constants in their circumstances — they’ve been studying the play in school, they’ve been brought here by their teachers, and usually have some experience in putting on plays themselves, or at least in performing scenes from the play in class.
I always find it fascinating to have talkbacks with regular audiences, because it’s much more of a mystery about who these people on the other side of the footlights are, what interests them, and how they came to be sitting in a theatre, and why they decided to stay after the show to hear more.
It’s kind of an amazing thing these days that we have a forum where a random bunch of people, outside the context of a school or any organized educational environment, can come together in person and have a discussion with a bunch of strangers for nearly an hour, about the process of theatre, the changing nature of families, love and marriage in the last 500 years, and the impact of Shakespeare on our idea of what it means to be human. This was probably the longest talkback I’ve ever done, but it was really cool in that it wasn’t just a question-and-answer session about “what’s it like to be an actor?” It was really a discussion about the play we all just saw, and the larger issues that it raised about our world today. I think it’s a great thing that such a program exists, and that people care enough to attend.
If you’re nearby and interested, here’s the link to the Guthrie’s page on the post-play discussion program, of which there is one more date for our show (Jan. 30th matinee), and for all their other upcoming shows.
