Seeing life from the side

A week ago I made a spontaneous decision to go downtown Chicago and watch the first preview of the Lookingglass Theater's production of, "East land." The only thing I knew about the play was that it is a musical, a new musical. The read through took place in the summer of 2011 in Grant Park, Chicago.  A year on, and here is the finished product.

I love the Lookingglass Theater. this is the third production that I have seen and they are always great. very creative, highly imaginative, and compelling enough to keep it's audience attentive throughout the entire show, even without an intermission.

And so I booked the last ticket to the preview - not knowing it was a preview until the show's director stood at the front and gave us an introduction to watching a preview. The good thing is that the tickets are cheaper than the main season and usually the average audience member will not notice any difference and indeed it all looked great to me. Because I bought the last ticket, it was one right at the front and at the end of the row. Having been to previous productions and seen the way that the set uses all parts of the theater, I wasn't bothered that my seat was at the end or the front.

However, the best part was that I did not sit in my designated seat. The usher asked me and my neighbor if we would mind moving as they needed our seats for wheelchair access. The great thing was that we were moved to the side and onto the elevated section. So we, my neighbor (whose name I discovered was Lauren) and I watched fromt eh side.

Watching the play from the side gave me a bunch of insights. First, watching from the side meant that I could see the rest of the audience and their reactions to what was going on. But even better, was watching the actors from the side. Every nuance was on show, and I discovered that actually watching from the front we miss so much. We get to see the mirror image but really the real image is the one from the side. What happens on the side is the added picture to what we already see.

If I was to watch your life from side on, and if you were to do the same with me, what would we see? Would I like your answer and would you agree with mine?