Some words on the live and the lost

Taken from Introduction to 'Edges of Loss' From Modern drama to postmodern theory by Mark Pizzato

'As 'live' performance, theatre exists only for a moment, demonstrating the mortality of both actor and spectator. [...] As Herbert Blau puts it: "The body in performance is dying in front of your eyes. Unceasing process is out there in the flesh. Or hangs, perceptually, on the audience's breath" (Audience 366). Whether the play ios tragic, comic, or melodrama, loss onstage creates a tentative tie between actors and spectators, though each experiences something different while sharing something together. p1