Surgery used to be, essentially, a speedrun. Sanitation and anaesthesia were near nonexistent so opening and closing as quickly as possible would markedly improve mortality rates. Appendix% was a popular watch.
Theatre has two meanings (it seems), one of them being "a room or hall for lectures with seats in tiers". The idea is that above the "centre stage" there would be seating for other doctors to watch the surgery for education/research purposes.
Like seriously, if you can't see up close exactly where they're cutting and all, how much can you really learn about surgery? You ain't gonna see the fine details from a balcony...
Why even go to a college lecture if you can't see the fine text on the board? Seems like a huge waste of time, don't even need to hear the lecture because I can't see everything.
You ask a fine question. Like, why the fuck did they put me in the back of the class with like -4 nearsighted vision?
Bruh, if your job is to do super delicate surgery, how many people can actually learn what's really going on unless they're right there up close to see what's what?
Why even let the surgeon explain the procedure if I ain't gonna get to do the surgery on myself. I can't exactly see up close exactly where they're cutting and all with all the drugs they force into me so that I won't scream and die.