To Prompt or Not to Prompt
Fri, 19 Nov 1999, 11:40 amLabrug18 posts in thread
To Prompt or Not to Prompt
Fri, 19 Nov 1999, 11:40 amI have never liked prompting. Ihave been in very few shows that have used such a device. The only time I welcomed a prompt was when it was used as a comical occurance throughout the show - Prompt walks on stage and bashes actor who can't get his lines right, etc.
I have recently be distracted by many things occuring in my life and recently dropped a line on stage. Fair enough, my cue line was missed or not given, but that really is not excuse. I should have been paying enough attention to the dialogue to realise what had happened. As it was, there was an uncomfortable pause before a whispered voice jolted my memory and feed me my line.
My first reaction was to quickly pick-up where'd I had left off, but I was resentful that I had needed prompt, then I mental-bashed myself for being so distracted.
It was later, after the show that I realised that I had become lazy by the very fact that there was a prompt there. I have missed cues before in other plays but have always been able to improvise a quick come-back and get myself back on track. In these shows, we had not prompt and we knew we had to rely on ourselves.
Can it be that the knowledge that a prompt is present (stage left) will encourage laziness in the performers?
Jeff "Missed" Watkins
I have recently be distracted by many things occuring in my life and recently dropped a line on stage. Fair enough, my cue line was missed or not given, but that really is not excuse. I should have been paying enough attention to the dialogue to realise what had happened. As it was, there was an uncomfortable pause before a whispered voice jolted my memory and feed me my line.
My first reaction was to quickly pick-up where'd I had left off, but I was resentful that I had needed prompt, then I mental-bashed myself for being so distracted.
It was later, after the show that I realised that I had become lazy by the very fact that there was a prompt there. I have missed cues before in other plays but have always been able to improvise a quick come-back and get myself back on track. In these shows, we had not prompt and we knew we had to rely on ourselves.
Can it be that the knowledge that a prompt is present (stage left) will encourage laziness in the performers?
Jeff "Missed" Watkins
RE: To Prompt or Not to Prompt
Wed, 24 Nov 1999, 07:21 pmWalter Plinge
I don't know about anyone else, but as far as I am concerned, there really
is only one answer to this question...
NO PROMPT!!!!
I liken it to a trapeze.
If you have the safety net, you are more likely to fall, but less likely to kill yourself when you do. If you have no safety net, you are far less likely to fall, because if you
do so, you know that you are DEAD!!!
I recently had a fight with someone over this during a performance. One of the actors onstage dried, someone backstage hissed over the cams
"Who's prompting".
The reply was, "We don't have a prompt"
"What happens if they dry"
"They're actors, they can get themselves out of it"
"Its better to have a prompt than have them dry"
"If there's a prompt there they'll use it"
"I'm getting the script"
"Don't you dare"
At this point the conversation became a shouting match, except we whispered the whole thing (we WERE on cams at the time).
So I'd say it boils down to personal preference, but I'd prefer not to...
Paul Treasure
is only one answer to this question...
NO PROMPT!!!!
I liken it to a trapeze.
If you have the safety net, you are more likely to fall, but less likely to kill yourself when you do. If you have no safety net, you are far less likely to fall, because if you
do so, you know that you are DEAD!!!
I recently had a fight with someone over this during a performance. One of the actors onstage dried, someone backstage hissed over the cams
"Who's prompting".
The reply was, "We don't have a prompt"
"What happens if they dry"
"They're actors, they can get themselves out of it"
"Its better to have a prompt than have them dry"
"If there's a prompt there they'll use it"
"I'm getting the script"
"Don't you dare"
At this point the conversation became a shouting match, except we whispered the whole thing (we WERE on cams at the time).
So I'd say it boils down to personal preference, but I'd prefer not to...
Paul Treasure
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