Reading and Seeing

For an English major, I honestly have not done a lot of “book reading” lately. Instead, I’ve been reading a lot of plays, most notably The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Simon Stephens, based on the book by Mark Haddon. Much as I love plays, I do wonder: why do we read them? I feel that so much of the magic is lost between the page and the stage. I spent most of my winter break reading plays, some of which I knew incredibly well, others that I had never heard of, and am amazed by the fact that reading the lines have such a profoundly different impact from hearing them. I have never seen a production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, but I found myself enjoying it, despite the confusion that arose as a result of being taken in a medium other than it was intended. But for students being introduced to, say, Shakespeare by reading Hamlet, rather than seeing a production of it, I can see how it would turn them off of theater, or at least Shakespeare, for good. Having both read and seen Shakespeare, the difference is incredible; reading King Lear was arduous, and while it was rewarding, it was still a task first and foremost, leaving me with a sour impression of the play as a whole. Thus, when I was given the chance to see a production of King Lear not a year later, I seriously considered not going, purely because of my experience reading King Lear. After finally deciding to go, I remember absolutely loving the performance; it brought an entirely new life to what I had thought to be a rather staunch political tale, and I enjoyed it so much that I decided to see it for a second time. 

So I find myself wondering about the responsibility of publishers, releasing scripts to be sold as books to be read for pleasure; after having read the script for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, I do, unfortunately, doubt that I will make the time to read the original novel, because, while I enjoyed the plot, and I know it would be so different to see it rather than read it, I feel that now that I know the plot, and found the way in which I originally consumed the work to be uncompelling. I find myself constantly reading bits of plays, and growing bored after a short time, but then when I get to experience the work as a whole, it feels like an entirely new script. I have been in table readings for plays, and thought to myself how boring of a show it is, but then when we start putting movement and dynamics, the play comes to life. So it does break my heart to see people reading plays and then deciding they simply don’t enjoy them.