Will you PLEASE be quiet??!!
Mon, 26 Aug 2002, 09:26 amLeah Maher32 posts in thread
Will you PLEASE be quiet??!!
Mon, 26 Aug 2002, 09:26 amHey kids,
Not wanting to take attention away from the interesting three way romance developing in the "Reviewers in the Missed" thread, an interesting point has been raised way down there in the Reviews forum; what do you do about noisy audience members?
The amazing Mr Kelso in the equally amazing Copenhagen at the Octogon very recently apparently employed the simple break of character and "Would you please be quiet, the rest of the audience is tying to listen." before returning to character and picking up from where he had been so rudely interupted.
Is this the best way to go about it? Or should you just ignore it and hope it goes away? Or send a runner out in the interval to hunt down the culprits and have a quiet word? Or get the cast and crew together in the car park afterwards to make sure these inconsiderate audience members never bother another actor again?
Suggestions? Stories? Annecdotes?
Leah
Not wanting to take attention away from the interesting three way romance developing in the "Reviewers in the Missed" thread, an interesting point has been raised way down there in the Reviews forum; what do you do about noisy audience members?
The amazing Mr Kelso in the equally amazing Copenhagen at the Octogon very recently apparently employed the simple break of character and "Would you please be quiet, the rest of the audience is tying to listen." before returning to character and picking up from where he had been so rudely interupted.
Is this the best way to go about it? Or should you just ignore it and hope it goes away? Or send a runner out in the interval to hunt down the culprits and have a quiet word? Or get the cast and crew together in the car park afterwards to make sure these inconsiderate audience members never bother another actor again?
Suggestions? Stories? Annecdotes?
Leah
Re: Will you PLEASE be quiet??!!
Wed, 18 Sept 2002, 05:00 pmWalter Plinge
Interesting.
There are most definately two sides to the arguement, as we've seen. On the one hand suspension of disbelief is penultimate, especially in theatre where it is all too easy for an audience member to suddenly become aware that they are not, in fact, watching a goings-on, they are instead sitting in an audience watching a bunch of people on stage. The physical aspect of live drama is a two-edged sword; on the one hand it allows you to draw an audience into a performance in a way a film never can, on the other the moment you lose and audience they're gone for good.
I have a lot of sympathy for Jo's position (and not only because she's my director :P). Dropping character shatters suspension of disbelief, not only for yourself, but also for you fellow cast members whose no doubt sterling performances will inevitably be undermined by your outburst. Often - I would say nine times out of ten to pick an artibrary statement - the very best thing you can do is ingore it and keep going. You're far more likely to keep an audience focused by not drawing attention to the distraction. In essence your focus helps other, more polite audience members to keep thier focus. If I'm watching a performance, then I'm far more inclined to ignore a ringing phone, or a loud-mouthed theatergoer if the actor onstage can give me something else to focus on.
That said, however, there are most definately times where ad-lib audience berating is highly appropriate. Stage productions of Rocky Horror Picture Show, for example.
To my mind the more obscure a piece of theatre is, the less inclined an actor should be to ad-lib it; fairly obvious I'm sure you'll agree. Shakespeare, I'd suggest, is possibly a poor oppertunity to break into an audience beat-down as it were (unless of course you're performing the complete works of Willam shakepeare abriged, in which case it's quite acceptable, even expected).
More familiar theater, abstract or no, is probably also a good chance for audience interaction. The example given earlier of the proffesor berating a student is a good example.
And as I'm sure you're well aware if (like me) you're in that distainful business of "street theeta", then you'd better get used to ad-libbing it, because the audience is never going to let you off easily, and responding to rudeness appropriately is the only way you'll be able to carry on a scene.
The current issue though, should Heisenberg in Copenhagen be berating a loud obnoxious audience member? I'd like to say no, in as non-judgemental way as I possibly can. I didn't see the performance, so I'm loathe to make a comment (though I will anyway) the character, to my mind, seems too emotionally intense to get away with such a drop. Better to leave the ad-lib to the comic relief.
More importantly, though, is the question of Curtain times. How do you deal with a late, though paying, audience member? Proffesional theater is probably at a bit of an advantage here; you try getting yourself let into a Royal Shakespeare theater company production of Macbeth a half-hour late. Us lowly amatuer theater companies, however, have no such luxury.
I feel that this is an issue for directors and, more importantly, playwrights. A piece designed to be performed in a non-proffessional atmosphere (read: you're not Andrew Lloyd Webber) should, to my mind, have an oppertunity early in the piece for latecomers to arrive. Say 10-15 minutes into running time break off with a comic monologue, a humorous quip, a low point in the scene's tension; anything to give the actors a breif insensity respite which allows you to usher in the hordes of latecomers with a minimum of disruption. That, at least, is my humble opinion.
There ends my mini-essay on the prospect of loud audiences and how to deal with them. If you're still reading this (and I must ask why one earth? Don't you have anything better to do with your time?) keep this in mind:
You go to the theater, above all else to be entertained. You the actor/actress are responsible for entertaining your audience, not demanding they let you go about your business. If the audience will be most entertained by you ad-libbing, then by all means do so. Otherwise perhaps your best bet is to grin and bear it.
Or alternately we could always give the stage-manager half a brick and let them deal with it...
There are most definately two sides to the arguement, as we've seen. On the one hand suspension of disbelief is penultimate, especially in theatre where it is all too easy for an audience member to suddenly become aware that they are not, in fact, watching a goings-on, they are instead sitting in an audience watching a bunch of people on stage. The physical aspect of live drama is a two-edged sword; on the one hand it allows you to draw an audience into a performance in a way a film never can, on the other the moment you lose and audience they're gone for good.
I have a lot of sympathy for Jo's position (and not only because she's my director :P). Dropping character shatters suspension of disbelief, not only for yourself, but also for you fellow cast members whose no doubt sterling performances will inevitably be undermined by your outburst. Often - I would say nine times out of ten to pick an artibrary statement - the very best thing you can do is ingore it and keep going. You're far more likely to keep an audience focused by not drawing attention to the distraction. In essence your focus helps other, more polite audience members to keep thier focus. If I'm watching a performance, then I'm far more inclined to ignore a ringing phone, or a loud-mouthed theatergoer if the actor onstage can give me something else to focus on.
That said, however, there are most definately times where ad-lib audience berating is highly appropriate. Stage productions of Rocky Horror Picture Show, for example.
To my mind the more obscure a piece of theatre is, the less inclined an actor should be to ad-lib it; fairly obvious I'm sure you'll agree. Shakespeare, I'd suggest, is possibly a poor oppertunity to break into an audience beat-down as it were (unless of course you're performing the complete works of Willam shakepeare abriged, in which case it's quite acceptable, even expected).
More familiar theater, abstract or no, is probably also a good chance for audience interaction. The example given earlier of the proffesor berating a student is a good example.
And as I'm sure you're well aware if (like me) you're in that distainful business of "street theeta", then you'd better get used to ad-libbing it, because the audience is never going to let you off easily, and responding to rudeness appropriately is the only way you'll be able to carry on a scene.
The current issue though, should Heisenberg in Copenhagen be berating a loud obnoxious audience member? I'd like to say no, in as non-judgemental way as I possibly can. I didn't see the performance, so I'm loathe to make a comment (though I will anyway) the character, to my mind, seems too emotionally intense to get away with such a drop. Better to leave the ad-lib to the comic relief.
More importantly, though, is the question of Curtain times. How do you deal with a late, though paying, audience member? Proffesional theater is probably at a bit of an advantage here; you try getting yourself let into a Royal Shakespeare theater company production of Macbeth a half-hour late. Us lowly amatuer theater companies, however, have no such luxury.
I feel that this is an issue for directors and, more importantly, playwrights. A piece designed to be performed in a non-proffessional atmosphere (read: you're not Andrew Lloyd Webber) should, to my mind, have an oppertunity early in the piece for latecomers to arrive. Say 10-15 minutes into running time break off with a comic monologue, a humorous quip, a low point in the scene's tension; anything to give the actors a breif insensity respite which allows you to usher in the hordes of latecomers with a minimum of disruption. That, at least, is my humble opinion.
There ends my mini-essay on the prospect of loud audiences and how to deal with them. If you're still reading this (and I must ask why one earth? Don't you have anything better to do with your time?) keep this in mind:
You go to the theater, above all else to be entertained. You the actor/actress are responsible for entertaining your audience, not demanding they let you go about your business. If the audience will be most entertained by you ad-libbing, then by all means do so. Otherwise perhaps your best bet is to grin and bear it.
Or alternately we could always give the stage-manager half a brick and let them deal with it...
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