Have you ever felt as if you were being watched? Or as though you’re the main character in a bad movie? Well, it happens to me sometimes and when it does, I always remember of a university lecture about life as a drama.

Daily life as a show is based on an ancient idea that the world is a stage and we are the actors. At first, it was a metaphor, but it has become a way to study society.

It starts from the assumption that anyone who manifests a kind of behavior provides a type of representation.

You’re not so sure about the logic of my words? Then let’s give you some examples. You know those moments when you speak and suddenly a group of people looks very interested in what you say? You suddenly feel feverish, but you keep going.  Don’t you feel like you are having a representation? The group is the judge, the audience.

 

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Also, take for example a wedding where every moment is planned. When you go to a wedding, you do not say you’re going to watch a play, but don’t they resemble? Grooms are the key players and guests, secondary actors. Everything is planned; everything has an order, a beginning, a development of action and an end. In addition, the entire representation is filmed.

 

Other examples that I could give you are sporting performances, funerals, conferences, and courses or simply going to work.

There are noticeable differences between how an employee works when he is alone, unlike when his work is noticed by others.

An actor is not necessarily false or inauthentic, but many are.

What determines an individual to play a different role? It’s hard to keep your naturalness in certain moments, especially those when you know that a number of eyes are watching you. So dramatization happens. An actor provides an improved self-image, likely to raise it in the public eye.

 

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Actors dramatize in order to achieve an ideal result and to maximize emotions. Take for example when a person tells a story and gesticulates a lot to attract more attention. He/she is not a fake person; he/she just becomes an actor in that moment. We all understand the basic principles of theater and without realizing it; we use them in our everyday life.

Often we want to seem confident in us when we are actually shaking with emotion or fear; we want to seem competent, when we, in fact, know our gaps.

The most sincere actor is the one who keeps the same attitude when in front of the public and when he is in his personal space, at home for instance.

OK, there are similarities between everyday life and theater. But also there are many differences in terms of space, communication between actors, theater scene layout and much more.

In theater, there are no insignificant replicas, in contrast to real-life; in a theater every word matters, while in real life we sometimes talk, but say nothing.

 

However, beyond these differences, we resemble the actors on stage because both us and they try to leave the impression that we are what we seem to be.

Taking all of this into account, what is the role played by you? Are you the same at home and in public?