New Beginnings Again
Tomorrow we finish up ETI with our last performance of The Merchant Of Venice. Today we performed for Tent City at Saint Joseph's, and I bid farewell to Solanio and Tubal. Tomorrow we start with the other cast at 6PM in Volunteer Park, where I will bid farewell to Launcelot and The Duke. I love finishing a show. I hate saying farewell to my character(s). There is always a desire to do it better than the last performance, to really inhabit the character for the audience and self.
Live theatre is a very special thing, like any performance art. When a run is done, it is over. Never will it come back. Even if you could recast it with the same people, which would be a one in a thousand or million chance, it still wouldn't be the same. An audience that is there for the art experiences the same thing. And guess what? The best audiences were the prisons. We had 60-80 in attendance at the women's max security unit in Purdy, and 352 at the minimum/medium security unit at the men's prison in Monroe. The smaller audiences at the hospital and tent city were also very good.
Several reasons for this, but I think it is mostly two reasons. First these are the people Shakespeare wrote for, the groundlings. In these places we encounter more people of modest background/class then in a traditional venue. His bawdy jokes, pokes at the powers that be, etc. resonate more for the everyday people he was writing for, who most playwrights write for. This experience convinces me more than ever that it is incumbent on the artists to find ways to bring the people that matter, us everyday folks, to our work.
The second reason is in the prisons, and the other non-traditional venues we worked people weren't trying to decipher the language, they were investing themselves in the production, right there playing with us. The work actors go through to understand and communicate Shakespeare paid a huge dividend. They got the plot, the jokes, and everything else better than traditional audiences. They joined the world, the fantasy, the escape. They found it a gift, and we found it as great a gift.
At Monroe I had an amazing experience. From my first entrance as Launce the crowd really warmed to me. As I said, it was a big crowd. 352 inmates, then guards, administrators, etc. All sitting or standing in the yard. During the second act Launce runs around the audience and enters on the other side of the stage. Many times. They loved it, cheering, laughing, encouraging, warning of stage and lawn hazards so I wouldn't injure myself. I loved it, and my adrenalin was surging. Kinda' fat guy running is funny anyway, and the wonderful audience in Monroe helped me really go and invest.
That was yesterday, and today people were still talking about how I stole the show. I'm sure they really liked the pretty women too. We were delighted with how they got into the story, and were talking to the characters. "Go for it." "That's harsh!" "Get out of there before it's too late." Polite, generous, and participating. I'd like to encourage other audiences to get as invested in a show.
If you are in the area, and haven't seen the show come on over to Volunteer Park, for our closing show tomorrow, the 3rd at 6PM. Even if you have seen it. I think it has grown incredibly since we were in the theatre space, and would love to hear from someone who saw it in the first week and then the final show.
After the show we'll visit tomorrow, then have some sort of graduation ceremony. It is a mystery to us so I can't say more, then we'll party. I know I will not see some of these people again, so I'm looking forward to our final party and wrap, nearly as much as I am sad we are done. I don't want to think about that anymore now. I'll let myself cry and get all teary next weekend, assuming I can put off my emotional reaction that long. I used to bury things all too well, and I may have lost that ability. We'll see...
And now, like last night, it is time to ice my knee. The running at Monroe was a great workout.
Live theatre is a very special thing, like any performance art. When a run is done, it is over. Never will it come back. Even if you could recast it with the same people, which would be a one in a thousand or million chance, it still wouldn't be the same. An audience that is there for the art experiences the same thing. And guess what? The best audiences were the prisons. We had 60-80 in attendance at the women's max security unit in Purdy, and 352 at the minimum/medium security unit at the men's prison in Monroe. The smaller audiences at the hospital and tent city were also very good.
Several reasons for this, but I think it is mostly two reasons. First these are the people Shakespeare wrote for, the groundlings. In these places we encounter more people of modest background/class then in a traditional venue. His bawdy jokes, pokes at the powers that be, etc. resonate more for the everyday people he was writing for, who most playwrights write for. This experience convinces me more than ever that it is incumbent on the artists to find ways to bring the people that matter, us everyday folks, to our work.
The second reason is in the prisons, and the other non-traditional venues we worked people weren't trying to decipher the language, they were investing themselves in the production, right there playing with us. The work actors go through to understand and communicate Shakespeare paid a huge dividend. They got the plot, the jokes, and everything else better than traditional audiences. They joined the world, the fantasy, the escape. They found it a gift, and we found it as great a gift.
At Monroe I had an amazing experience. From my first entrance as Launce the crowd really warmed to me. As I said, it was a big crowd. 352 inmates, then guards, administrators, etc. All sitting or standing in the yard. During the second act Launce runs around the audience and enters on the other side of the stage. Many times. They loved it, cheering, laughing, encouraging, warning of stage and lawn hazards so I wouldn't injure myself. I loved it, and my adrenalin was surging. Kinda' fat guy running is funny anyway, and the wonderful audience in Monroe helped me really go and invest.
That was yesterday, and today people were still talking about how I stole the show. I'm sure they really liked the pretty women too. We were delighted with how they got into the story, and were talking to the characters. "Go for it." "That's harsh!" "Get out of there before it's too late." Polite, generous, and participating. I'd like to encourage other audiences to get as invested in a show.
If you are in the area, and haven't seen the show come on over to Volunteer Park, for our closing show tomorrow, the 3rd at 6PM. Even if you have seen it. I think it has grown incredibly since we were in the theatre space, and would love to hear from someone who saw it in the first week and then the final show.
After the show we'll visit tomorrow, then have some sort of graduation ceremony. It is a mystery to us so I can't say more, then we'll party. I know I will not see some of these people again, so I'm looking forward to our final party and wrap, nearly as much as I am sad we are done. I don't want to think about that anymore now. I'll let myself cry and get all teary next weekend, assuming I can put off my emotional reaction that long. I used to bury things all too well, and I may have lost that ability. We'll see...
And now, like last night, it is time to ice my knee. The running at Monroe was a great workout.
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