I suppose you could say the same for a book, but it's not the same, is it. Books demand an order. They ask you to read the introduction first. That's why they put it at the front. A website allows you to be creative at your own pace.
Or click it away if you want to. ------- X
I read an extract from Matthew Goulish, an American born actor and writer of the theatre company Goat Island. He grabbed my attention on his opening paragraph.
"When reading this book, please take your time. Remember that you do not necessarily need to start at the beginning. Start anywhere, stop anywhere. Don't worry about reaching the end. Don't read the whole book if you don't want to. Look through the table of contents, and start at the point that sounds most interesting to you." (Goulish, 2000, p.3).
I identified perfectly with what Goulish was telling his reader. For as long as I remember, a book always seemed to feel like a chore. Goulish encourages us to feel free in our reading practice and turn each book into the creative act we want it to be. To take from each book what we want and discard that which is of no use to us.
When it comes down to theatre, it can be just as creative as a website. There are without question plenty of productions which follow the time honoured tradition of having a clearly marked out beginning, middle and end and then there are plenty which do not. Of course everything needs a beginning, middle and an end but they're are not always obvious. And sometimes the end can be the beginning, or the middle or just the end.
Third Angel's Presumption is the best example of a piece of theatre which throws out the rules of tradition and dramaturgically corrupts the flow and sequence of the script. Although this creates a dynamically interesting setting and often rapidly delivered dialogue, it does not lose us. A scene stops in the middle and it is clear it has done so. It gives reference to how the final part should be then rewinds to the beginning, repeats itself then successfully finds the end. Just like Goulish's book, if you choose to read it that way.
The concept of time is relevant to Presumption. Time is discussed in the script, the characters have been together for many years and real time becomes distorted when a scene repeats itself or speeds up. Performance and reading can be similar when it comes to the relationship between time and text. Although performance purposely fixes the dramaturgy of the script for the audience, a book allows the reader to chose the tempo of reading, the time it will take and how often you will pause. Despite this difference they both use this same concept that Lehmann (2006) writes:
"While the text gives the reader the choice to read faster or slower, to repeat or to pause, in theatre the specific time of the performance with its particular rhythm and its individual dramaturgy (tempo of action and speech, duration, pauses and silences etc.) belongs to the 'work'."