Art and Engagement

I heard Harold Pinter on the radio this evening describing the necessary antagonism that theatre creates between artist and audience. Part of him despises the audience - and the audience more than reciprocate with their sadistic shuffling and coughing. But Pinter pointed out that the duty of the performers is to rise to that challenge, to meet the audience in combat and overmaster them. Certainly, it is not good to flatter them, to offer to "entertain" them. Part of the viewer is resentful of art, and jealous of its self-containment; a part of the artist wishes to twist the viewer's hand right back until it hurts. What fun! The concept of the fight, or the engagement, kicks through the "entertainment" lie and allows people to verbalise their anger when confronted by genuine art. That's good for the artist too, who should never be flattered. It's dispiriting for flatterers to hear that an artist is irritated and made uncomfortable by praise; what artists long for is a passionately-felt attack on their work, a proof that their play or their film has wounded the heart of a sensitive critic.