Poetry About Theatre

The theatre is a mirror held up to nature, a place where the ephemeral becomes eternal. These poems capture the excitement of the rising curtain, the weight of the spotlight, and the profound truth that can only be found in the art of make-believe.

From the grand tragedies of old to the experimental stages of today, the theatre remains a sacred space for the exploration of the human condition. Here, we are both the actors and the audience, witnessing the drama of existence unfold in three acts.

Featured Poems

The Empty House

The stillness of a theatre before the performance begins.

The velvet seats are ghosts of applause, waiting for the weight of bodies to bring the room to life.

The ghost light burns in center stage, a solitary eye that never blinks, watching over the echoes of soliloquies yet to be spoken.

In this cathedral of wooden boards, the dust motes dance in the dark, knowing that soon, they will be part of a kingdom, a forest, or a dream.

- Julian Thorne

The Dressing Room

The transition from self to character.

The mirror is framed by bulbs of fire, reflecting a face that is slowly dissolving under the weight of greasepaint and glue.

I am painting on a history that isn't mine, drawing lines of grief around eyes that haven't seen the war I am about to fight.

When the stage manager knocks, the person in the chair is gone, leaving only a ghost of a name and a costume that fits too perfectly.

- Clara Holm

Soliloquy for the Wing

The anticipation in the moments before an entrance.

I am standing in the cut of the dark, where the air smells of dust and ancient glue, listening to the pulse of the crowd on the other side of the velvet.

The heart is a percussionist out of time, hitting the ribs with the mallet of adrenaline.

Between the hush and the first word, there is a universe of silence where anything is still possible.

- Silas Vance

Classic Voices

All the World's a Stage (Excerpt)

by William Shakespeare (1599)

From 'As You Like It', one of the most famous metaphors for the human life cycle.

All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.

The Paradox of Acting (Excerpt)

by Denis Diderot (1773)

Though a philosophical essay, Diderot's observations on the emotional detachment of the great actor are often analyzed as art.

The great actor must have a great deal of judgment. He must have in himself an unmoved and disinterested spectator.

Micro Verses

We are most ourselves when we are wearing someone else's face.

- Elias Thorne

The curtain falls, but the story continues in the lobby of your heart.

- Anonymous

Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.

- Alfred Hitchcock

The spotlight is a cruel sun that reveals only the truth.

- Marcus Thorne

Deeper Explorations

The Mask

The personas we adopt to navigate the world and the stage.

Backstage Ritual

Greasepaint and powder, the drawing of a sharper line- who is this person staring back from the bulb-lit mirror?

The self is left in the dressing room, neatly folded on a chair, while the spirit steps out into the glare of the unreal.

- Maren Grey

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