True Celebrity True Charity

Corporate or industrial theatre is often seen in the theatre industry as the cop out, the sell out. It is like waitressing to a restaurateur, adverts to a filmmaker, copy to someone who dreams of being a novelist. In other words it is often seen as the necessary evil in order to bring in the bacon doing something that resembles your passion, while dreaming of said passion.

Or is it?

In a way, yes. I began in industrial theatre when I finished varsity as a means to get into the industry. What happened though was that I fell in love with what we do. I fell in love with the fact that though theatre we communicate messages to people from all walks of life and essentially aim to make their lives better in some way. Whether it is saving lives with HIV & Aids interventions, or motivating people using a play about transformation and diversity, or even just presenting the joy of the journey of a theatre play to people who don't usually get to experience the magic. I still dream of writing a novel and I will be published, however the two are not separate entities. The two types of writing, of expression, feed into each other, influence each other.

What this little diatribe is getting to is that in this industry of industrial theatre we use actors. And it amazes me that in this totally unglamourous field that exists to serve people we have actors with celebrity issues.

When asked to do a charity show to underprivileged children we had two actors make comments like: "I no longer do free shows". Or: "That NGO offered to pay me to teach there so I don't see why I should do the show for free. Really, we do so much free stuff."

Really? REALLY? Are you serious? The words in type may not convey the attitude that accompanied them in speech. The attitude was pure... pure... words fail. Lets try again. Entitlement perhaps? Ego? Arrogance? And where does this come from in such a supposedly humbling job that is so so far away from the shining lights and grandeur of "real" theatre?

Then you look at celebrities... People such as Angelina Jolie spring to mind. Oprah Winfrey. Plenty of South African celebrities who have done countless charity events - songs, performances and the like. These people are surrounded by lights and glory that have the potential to seed huge egos yet they do things for free. Yes, they have more than enough money. However, I don't think charity rests only on money. To me charity means giving of something you have in abundance to empower the lives of those less fortunate. You can give of time, of love, of talent and of money. The charity that has the greatest effect in my mind is that which cannot be measured in money. Someone will forget that R500 odd rands but might remember forever the time they got to spend with someone inspiring, or the time they were the recipient of someones talent that perhaps inspired them to great achievement.

For me true celebrity is gracious and generous and then you are not only surrounded by light and glory, but you create it. It radiates from within. I wish I could tell this to the people I encountered in my quest to secure a free show. And as I write this I realize that I started this as a an opinionated rant underpinned by the need to correct what I see as wrong. I realize that actually, I find it sad that a lot of people don't realize the joy that comes from giving without wanting gain. The person living in the "I only work if I get paid" world is really living in the world of "I have lost my passion." I realized this myself recently when I uncovered another passion and as I am not trained feel obliged to do it for free. I felt that I would do it even if free is the only option purely because I love it. It also made me look at my main passion that I am lucky enough to earn money from - writing. I thought to myself if I am always putting a price on that writing, and I defend that price quite rigorously often, am I still passionate about it? Well then I remembered that I write for free all the time. I write my novels for free (at the moment). I write these blogs for free. I write in my journal for free. I try to inspire people with words for free all the time - silly things like cards and interoffice communications. Why? Because I am compelled to. And because I love writing so much, and I love inspiring people to reach their dreams no matter what they be, I will gladly do it for free. I think this is the point that I have been led to. Charity can only stem from a place of passion. Because when you are living with passion it is that passion that needs to spill over. Happiness comes from the act of doing it and not necessarily from what you get from it and this opens up the space for true effective giving.

So now, what I would say to my colleagues if I could: "I really really hope that you rediscover the reason that you do this work and find the passion again. And if you can't may you find the passion that is naturally yours that allows you the freedom to gain happiness from the very act of doing whatever that passion may be so that maybe it can spill over and touch the lives of those less fortunate so that they in turn may be inspired to find their own passion and happiness. The world really can be a better place".