REFLECTIONS
I recently had the
pleasure of visiting two performances of a student production
at Auckland's 'School of Performing and Screen Arts' at UNITEC.
It was a cabaret appropriately named LET YOURSELF GO! A cast
of ten singing, with great enthusiasm, twenty swinging songs
from thethirties, forties and fifties.This was an energetic and
vigorous production overlaid with the individual stories of ten
characters providing a thoroughly entertaining evening. Performances
worthy of reflecting upon. |
The cast warm up for the final show. |
The Experience
of Doing It
Cabaret on the surface appears
to be a very different form of entertainment and a very different
performance process to a dramatic production - but is it?
The dressing room pre-show. |
Common Threads
As this cabaret show unfolded it became clear that the foundations
of performance were the same for cabaret as they are for drama.
The communication with the audience evolved from their identification
with the journey of the characters and that hinged on achieving
an understanding of the character's quest and the degree of success
or failure experienced as their story unfolded. There was definitely
a specific vocal and movement process underlying the action but
the communication power of the show and therefore its entertainment
came from the simple base of truthful characters and real story. |
Inevitably the songs were love
songs and they therefore explored the expectations, disappointments,
excitement, despair, comfort and even the absurdities of falling
in love. The actor's task was to engage with these circumstance.
They did this by relating the circumstances of the songs to the
circumstances of their character's lives, which were also revealed
through brief vignettes during the introductions or musicals
bridges of the songs.
Dual Intentions
What is interesting to reflect upon about cabaret is that during
a song, often the performer's intention was focused on the audience
and not on the character with whom they were sharing the story.
When the singers intention was focused on the audience they were
often playing "to share", sometimes "to please"
and occasionally "to convince". This produced active,
engaging and satisfactorily complex performances while the story
continued to unfold through the lyrics of the song.
In an evening solely focused
on romance it is not hard to guess what intentions were being
played between characters.
So what was learnt from attending
two performances?
Confidence is a major factor
in performance and so it was interesting to observe that although
some performers had strong singing voice sometimes this was not
accompanied by a similarly strong performance presence.This was
surprising because it could be assumed that a good voice would
greatly enhanceperformance confidence in a show that was based
entirely around song. On the other hand some actors who were
less capable in the vocal department managed to confidently engage
and entertain the audience. None of these imbalances disturbed
the thrust or intention of an entertaining production for the
show was well structured and directed - but they were observable
factors. |
Kiel McNaughton andLiesha Ward-Knox |
Barnaby James commencing his make up. |
The Excitement
of Final Night
The second performance I attended
was a very different show to the previous one. Reflection upon
the causes of the changes suggests the first consideration was
that this was the final night of the show. After a two week run,
during which the cast had obviously enjoyed the enthusiastic
responses of their audiences, there seemed to be a collective
objective that this final performance should have lots of zing.
Everyone was revved up. |
This meant that some performances
that previously had been inwardly focused and a little introverted
were now rushing out to meet the audience. Whereas previously
the performer may have been shyly exploring the personal feelings
that the circumstances or song provoked, now they were boldly
sharing these feelings with the audience.
Was this simply the enthusiasm
of a final night?
Growing
Confidence
In some cases it could just have been the growing confidence
acquired during the run, culminating in an enthusiastic finale.
But on the other hand for some performers it seemed to be significantly
more than that. For some a change in attitude had occurred. It
appeared that instead of being shy or cautious about revealing
their inner personal thoughts to the audience they had for some
reason this night given themselves permission to do so. Permission
had been granted to shout from the rooftops or at least very
plainly declare that "they loved this person" or that
"they desired that person". No longer were there inhibiting
factors limiting the actors' connection to the characters' intention. |
Leisha Ward-Knox and Kerry Warkia during the warm-up. |
These were sensual, flirtatious
even lusty performances. For along with the 'permission' came
a comfortable ownership that made sharing the character's desires
with the audience an OK thing to do. Without hesitation the audience
experienced the privilege of being invited in to the most raucous,
intimate and sensual thoughts of the character. This was an invigorating
experience for the audience who responded by sharing their own
enthusiasm for the proceedings. This is the wonderful environment
that theatre offers.
Obviously that actors give
themselves permission to venture into these very private experiences
in the public forum of a theatrical performance is a major contributing
factor to a successful outcome. These young performances also
tell us that it maybe takes considerable effort, trust and practice
to be able to acclimatize to such a revealing display.
Swings and
Roundabouts.
With many intentions being played to the hilt there were other
outcomes on the ambience of the show. As always happens when
needs are played strongly character complexity is reduced. Strong
intentions lead people towards obsessive behaviour. Obsessive
behaviour restricts the options a character might consider and
therefore shrinks the complexity of the drama and the performance.
So the gains that were made in energy and commitment were counterbalanced
by a slight drop in the complexity of performances. This was
not a problematic outcome purely the logical outcome of shifting
performance influences.
Clear purpose of story and
trusted actors' intentions make for a good performance outcome,
so the swings and balances of these two evenings did not upset
the delivery of a great evenings entertainment. However the two
shows were distinctly different by virtue of the circumstances
of the night and a brave growth in understanding of the performance
process by some of the performers. These are the lessons that
can only be learnt by getting up on your feet and doing it.
Richard Sarell
August, 2001
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