Curtain Calls

I'd like a bit of discussion about curtain calls.What are the protocols?They seem to vary & this may be a good thing.But,should they be judged as part of the show?I have at times seena very tight and well directed show,followed by a sloppy CC.Sometimes the CC seems to be a "free for all"with waves to family & friends,thumbs up signs,indespersed with random bows.
During some CCs (and I think this only applies to non professional theatre),cast members applaud EACH OTHER,a practice which makes me cringe.I think members of the audience should be the sole judges of who's worth a clap.But what about applause for the Bio Box mob & the backstage crew??Is this a good idea?
And finally CCs frequently look like an after thought,which the director afterall the hard& creative work on the production says (or thinks)Oh ,now what about the bloody CC.Maybe this could be a job for the stage manager;the Director having completed the actual production!!Whatdoyareckon?
PS There's also the question of wether we need CCs at all.Some productions don't have them,usually because of the negative impact they may have on the show.
So to have or not to have,or how to have & what to do!!! Any comments???

Well for my two cents, I recently saw a curtain call at a certain song and dance show at a certain pub in Northbridge and it was effectively done but somewhat lacking due to the lack on consistency in the cast. The play-with-songs had ended on a very somber and affecting tableu, which I think reached every member of the audience with it's power and passion. But what to do for a CC after a moment like that? The be-specticled director had chosen to have his cast come on with serious faces and for the bows to be somber in keeping with the note the show had ended on. Which was well though out and effective......

EXCEPT, it was opening night, the show had been truely a rip snorter and everyone, particularly the young people on stage, attempted to hold their serious expressions while at the same time fighting not to scream and hug each other and beam at the appreciative audience which was going bananas. A few smiles and one lovely big grin showed through, rather ruining the effect of the CC, but at the same time being completely understandable.

I think they'd all done an amazing job in very trying conditions and they deserved to show their releif anf pleasure at an appreciative audience; this was their big reward after all that work. But at the same time, that would have completely dissipated the tension of the dying moments of the show.

Solution? Wouldn't have a clue.

Hi Peter,
Nice to have you aboard the good ship Cyberspace.
In my (vast) experience, CC's are almost always an afterthought, rarely addressed before the final dress rehearsal. I think its a pity, as it's the one moment when we humble toilers on the boards can actually bask in the love of our adoring public. Very often they are messy, being under-rehearsed and unimaginative.
I have seen CC's in professional, West End theatre, which have been a work of art in themselves, with split second timing and rivetting choreography. I'd like to see some of that here.
And yes, I certainly think the bio-box folk deserve a wave and a clap, even if half the audience have no idea who we're pointing at; where would we be without those unseen but vital techies? In the dark, and sans applause methinks.
See you tomorrow,
Jonno.

While I personally don't believe in them unless they serve as an intrinsic 'post show' ie most musicals , I would like to call your attention to stage superstition in which it is unlucky to rehearse the curtain call before the last dress rehearsal...

I was there on that night Leah, and just to add my comment, the cast didn't expect to do a curtain call at all....in fact it took them quite a while to even realise that is what the AUDIENCE wanted.....i guess it is up to the audience...

Teri

I've seen curtain calls that have been vastly more entertaining than the actual show itself.

And please don't refer to them as 'CC's. It reminds me of a crime fighting police muppet and that just gives me the creeps.

That's a relief Teri - I thought I had buggered it up and had gone to house lights too early - It was a heart starter to quickly reverse, on a manual desk, when the cast came back out. As our communicators had all previously decided to perform a suicide pact - it was panic time - as it required Chris to run back to another part of the hotel and switch off the house lights (which he just returned from switching on).

Joe

Many people I know don't like the idea of actors applauding each other... Personally I'm wishy-washy about it, depending on circumstances. I feel quite strongly that the techs should get the nod, as some of these people do an amazing job, with no acknowledgement but this...

As an actor (albeit a starving one) I enjoy curtain calls, especially when the perfect piece of music accompanies them. As to whether people should stay in character or not.. well I think that's up to the director. One method I've seen, and I think this one suited me best, was for the actor to come onstage in charater, notice the audience, and then drop character for their bow.



Yes sir... I'll get back in my box...

It doesn't really matter what the pro's do because curtain calls are, in a way, the only "payment" an amateur (actor/muso/techie) receives apart from a great experience (hopefully) and some good parties. How curtain calls are done is completely up to the director. Personally I am not fond of overly 'staged' curtain calls.

Doin' it because I love it too much not to!
Gill.

As a lighting designer working mainly in amateur theatre the worst curtain calls I have seen have been the laclustre attempt to "put something on" and do not help the show as the audience goes away with a bad last scene. The best have been blocked and at times choreographed to music as in Lend Me A Tenor and compliment the show. From a technical aspect they need to be planned and rehearsed, even if as I have just learnt that superstition places this job on the last dress rehearsal, so that lighting, sound and stage crew know what is happening so that we do not spoil the efforts of the quality of the rest of the production. The audience is the cue for a curtain call, a responsive audience on a good night will ask for and should get several curtain calls but if they don't ask for it in their clapping then it is the stage managers call to keep it short or even not at all.

Unfortunetly, most CC's (sorry about that?) are more like curtain falls and are viewed much the same, as a last minute effort thrown together during the interval, as total prat-falls by most Directors.

To that end I agree with Don, especaily when it can become a 'wing it production' for the crew and a total panic for the stage manager.

In most productions, they are very important and wxpected by the BOS's, therefore they should be considered and rehearsed as though they are a scene from the show. Sure in some shows they just don't work, but final dress or during opening night is not the time to remeber it or quickly arrange one (without advising the crew) - because they always come out looking make-shift.
In turn they only acheive making us tech's look like googes and your production suffers - remeber in most cases you have had months to rehearse, but in most instances the crew don't even get a proper cue-to-cue (which is usually blown out and becomes only another dress rehearsal) never mind a full run through.

Yet as always we are expected to 'do-it' completly in the dark and make it work first time by always performing 'safe sets'.

GAA'FA
Joe McCabe

Depending on the style of the show (ie what mood it leaves the audience in) I believe Curtain Calls should abide by the KISS principle. Get on, do the bleeding thing, and get off. Nothing is more excrutiating for an audience (with the exception of some Columibian torture practices) to sit through a Curtain Call that lasts as long as an act from Parsifal.

I agree with Mr Fry that it's a crime against humanity to watch actors applaud themselves. I'd prefer to leave the "you were fab-u-lous, dahlink"'s for the dressing room. I'm not sure on the practice of applauding the bio box. Absolutely the techhies deserves (more) recognition, but it should be judged how appropriate the display will be for the end of a show.

Now, MY question is: should actors bow IN CHARACTER or should they accept the applause AS THEMSELVES, or a combination of the two? I personally feel that as the actor did the work (and NOT the character) that the actor should bow as the Actor. It is then up to them to behave themselves and not wave to the audence and engage in conversation with Uncle Melba as to whether s/he liked their performance....

Eliot