Daily Inspiration Quote by Lusia Strus

Strus is taking a scalpel to the polite lie that “good acting” is synonymous with competence. Her boredom isn’t aimed at theatre as an art form; it’s aimed at theatre as a well-drilled machine where everyone hits their marks and nobody actually listens. The complaint about “connection” lands because it’s less mystical than it sounds: she’s talking about real-time responsiveness, the tiny recalibrations that happen when performers treat each other as live partners instead of cues in a memorized sequence.

The subtext is a critique of safety. “Technically proficient” is faint praise here, a warning label for performances that prioritize finish over risk. Strus frames surprise as the proof of life: if actors aren’t “surprising each other,” they’re not in a shared present, they’re reenacting decisions made in rehearsal. That’s when theatre starts to resemble a recording of itself, the uncanny valley of stage work - all craft, no voltage.

As an actress speaking from inside the profession, she’s also making an argument about audience pleasure. The thrill she describes isn’t randomness; it’s the sensation of watching choice happen, of seeing an actor brave enough to do something specific that could fail. In a cultural moment obsessed with “content” that can be repeated, clipped, and optimized, Strus is defending the one thing theatre can uniquely sell: unrepeatable contact, the kind that forces everyone in the room to stay awake.