Ah! The joys of live theatre in an intimate setting… This was the most difficult one: someone in the front kept falling asleep and snoring! The audience was starting to think she was the show! The host forgot to unplug the phone and it rang and this huge body in a bright yellow blazer went racing past me to unplug it… I didn’t flinch or drop a note. Had to improvise and include all of that into the performance.
It’s life, isn’t it? Every relationship has these moments when we’re not sure we’re able to cope, to integrate what we’ve just experienced, to be present, and sometimes that moment challenges us to the core. Theatre is life, life is theatre!
As a performer, I’m making moment-to-moment choices with lightning speed. Should I drop my voice here; should I hold the silence a little longer; should I look directly at that audience member? All the while, I’m trying to stay connected to the truth-in-the-moment. And what is that truth?
It changes moment-by-moment, night after night. The only constant in live events is change and a kind of presence. It’s a high-wire act and the script and your skills are the safety net. You fall, you bounce a few times, laugh and dust yourself off, and climb up to the high-wire again… and hope the audience took in that moment of our collective folly and grace and presence… or hope they missed it altogether!
Onto the next show!
