I Dreamed

” I dreamed a dream in times gone by when hope was high and life worth living, I dreamed that love would never die, I dreamed that God would be forgiving. Then I was young and unafraid and dreams were made and used and wasted. There was no ransom to be paid, no song unsung, no wine untasted. But the tigers come at night with their voices soft as thunder. As they tear your hope apart and they turn your dream to shame. He slept a summer by my side, he filled my days with endless wonder. He took my childhood in his stride but he was gone when autumn came. And still I dream he’ll come to me that we’ll live the years together. But there are dreams that cannot be and there are storms we cannot weather. I had a dream my life would be so much different from this hell I’m living. So different now from what it seemed now life has killed the dream I dreamed”

When Debra Byrne sang these words in the Australian production of Les Miserables the strength of the lyric evoked such a strong sentiment of sadness that many in the audience were grateful for the darkness of the Theatre Royale. Byrne’s character Fantine was alone, unemployed and destitute.

I saw the musical seven times, taking seven different groups of friends to see it when they flew into Sydney. I never tired of seeing it. That’s the magic of stage production. It’s the magic of artful portrayal in a way that’s different from movie portrayal. How is it different?

I think the difference is I go from feeling less like a spectator to when I’m watching a movie portrayal (this despite brilliant acting performances) to feeling more like a participator. I’m able to withdraw from the action on the movie screen when I choose yet there is a deftness to the manner by which stage production characters haul you bodily into their world.

Movie portrayal builds the character before your eyes where as stage portrayal pulls you in by the ears and eyes immediately. Perhaps that’s what I’m really rabbiting on about. The immediacy. In the theatre our senses are kicked into life because there are so many things to be aware of, there’s no luxury of a passive introduction to characters. You don’t so much arrive as come to a sudden realisation you are there from the get go.

‘Real’ stage characters respond to a ‘real’ audience. Deft stage characters can and do have a real conversation with you! They can walk down stage and in an aside make a comment about a person in the audience and continue faultlessly with their on-stage dialogue. This is what makes live production so memorable.

So. Have you ever dreamed a dream but things turned out differently? Not what or how you expected them to? Did you ever give up on one? Have you found yourself living the one you dreamed and more? Did you ever blame the life you’re living now for killing the dream you had?

More importantly, what could you tweak in your life now in order to catch sight of that dream again? Realising too, it may not be the same dream as back then, more like a shadow of its former self waiting for a make-over. You could do an extreme make-over if you’ve neglected it for a while. Whatever you do, remember to dream a dream.