You had to be there....

Went to see Cyrano de Bergerac this week in rep at The Haymarket, Basingstoke, and thoroughly enjoyed it as usual, even though the theatre was really only half full. What is it about theatre that makes it such an intensely enjoyable experience? To see the same thing on screen, large or small might be nice, but not the same.

Stand up is similar, in that you can always double the effect on the audience actually present, so that what is quite enjoyable on the dvd, becomes gut-wrenchingly funny live. Why is that?