Cary Tennis writes this wonderful advice column over at Salon - in fact, he's the only reason I go over there at all any more. This recent entry (you'll have to watch a brief ad) to a wronged lover who has to keep seeing her ex socially is especially entertaining. In recommending she make a scene (can you see why I love this?) he writes, "It is obvious by now to anyone walking by that a performance is occurring that is well-rehearsed and worth the price."
It always interesting how a group of strangers milling about will sometimes suddenly and uniformly stop being a mere crowd and become an Audience. It's something Terry Pratchett writes about a lot. How old and how deeply embedded is that switch that dissociates the viewer from the immediate action and says shh! Don't disturb! Now we're watching. Do monkeys do this? Do fish?
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