Will you PLEASE be quiet??!!

Craig Williams wrote:

>
> A lot (read above thread)



Sorry Craig, but I can't say that I agree with you there.


I was greatly surprised to read at the start of this thread that the wonderful Mr Kelso broke character to admonish an audience. Not knowing the circumstances of the incident, it is hard to understand why he would have taken such action. The only time an actor should do such a thing, is to inform the audience that the theatre is on fire on would they kindly make their way to the clearly marked exits in an orderly fashion and then follow them into the car park to finish the play.

A professional actor is nothing but their character on stage. If something happens unexpectedly, they will react as their character. This includes dealing with an idiot talking in the audience.
If a mobile goes off, don’t stop the show and snap at the audience ‘How rude’, ad an aside complaining about the terrible ringing in your head! Anything to avoid a greater disruption of the illusion you’ve worked so hard to create in performance.

It is rare for the 'polite' members of the audience to ask a noisy patron to shut up and near impossible for an usher or stage manager to do the same once the show has started.
ItÂ’s up to the actor to keep control between curtain up to curtain down and the only credibility you have is invested in your character. If you break that persona because your frustrated, you will more likely annoy the audience and loose them altogether.
It is a hard situation to deal with when you put so much work in to a show but then, thatÂ’s what being professional is all about.
As Jo Somerville said ‘It is inappropriate to break character and ruin the moment for the audience because you can’t concentrate’.

Never whine to your audience! Save it for fellow actors and stage crew after the show, thatÂ’s what they're for. There's nothing more weakening than to have an actor acknowledge their audience and actually speak TO them.
This is only done if you're applying CPR to the audience member who leapt to their feet suddenly, clutching their heart and collapsed at your feet. Even then remember iambic pentameter is good for keeping time with heart massageÂ…

A (push) las (push), poor (push) Yorick! (push) I (push) knew (push) him (push) Horatio (push)

breath...

ItÂ’s never easy to plan for these situations. They are unexpected, unwelcome and every time itÂ’s something different but staying in character is vital for the integrity of the performance and as a safety harness for the actor to deal with anything out of the ordinary in the great tradition that is the theatre.


Tales of the unexpected:


When I was doing Shakespeare in the park I shared a scene with Michael Loney, walking down through the audience as we discussed the upcoming marriage between Juliet and Paris, at which time a light rain began to fall. Always fun with outdoor theatre and hard to ignore but it did allow me the opportunity of replying to

Friar Laurence: On Thursday, sir? the time is very short.
With
Paris: Well...weather permitting of course...

Another time performing at Dirty Dicks, two audience members had been secured in the stocks and we launched into song. Suddenly, fresh fruit began to rain down from table four. I managed to catch an orange before it hit my guitar mid strum, drop it, and continue playing, all within two beats (a most excellent catch).
Meanwhile, Phil Milon who played ‘Dick Turpin’ got down to the table singing boisterously and drew their attention from throwing stuff at the stocks.
When the song was over, I pulled my pick from the pesky projectile and we carried on having managed to avoid concussion without stopping the show.


More along the lines of dealing with noisy audiences:


Kids theatre is a great learning ground for maintaining character. I was sorry to read that Ranger Kev took his hat off and become Craig the actor to tell the kids that itÂ’s just a play.
IÂ’ve performed now in most of W.A.Â’s metropolitan schools several times over and have always managed to keep control of the kids by getting them to focus on what I wanted them to do.
Distracting kids from whatÂ’s got them over excited by juggling or talking animatedly without sound for example, will soon get their curiosity back to you and IÂ’ve never broken character to do it.

In the worst case IÂ’ve had with a kid who wouldnÂ’t stop talking, it was simple enough to step into the audience, pick him up and carry him back to the stage under one arm while continuing the show and handing him over to a teacher by the side of the stage.
ThatÂ’s the beauty of kids theatre, if all else fails, their really lite and easy to pick up by the feet.
The point is that it was done in a manner that was consistent with the character I was playing at the time.



After saying all that I’m happy to read an eye witness account by Nath of the ‘incident’ with Geoff Kelso that started all this. It seems to indicate that Kelso remained in character and made a distraction part of the show. Truly a professional performance.





The show must go on.


Brett