Suppose you had never heard of “theatre”, and somebody invited you to see a play. Imagine how strange the experience would be.
All of those people up on stage, saying things that were actually the words of somebody else. You might be appalled at these odd people, walking about in what is clearly a make believe reality, acting as though everything about this made up world is real.
Every once in a while, one of these crazy people would look toward us — the audience — gazing out into the middle distance as though none of us is there. They might do something weird like launch into a lengthy speech, apparently to the empty air. Or even worse, they might express their deepest emotions by singing — without, apparently, ever realizing that they have burst into song.
“Hey!” you might be tempted to shout to the person up on stage, “Can’t you see us? We’re right here!”
But your major worry would be reserved for the audience. All of these apparently intelligent citizens, falling for an obvious trick. Why, you might ask yourself, don’t they realize that those people up there are merely pretending?