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Stage and street

Started by Prof. John Bull, November 13, 2009, 01:15:09 PM

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Paolo Garbanzo

Again, I'm very late to the discussion, and although it appears to have veered off the side of a cliff, I have a slightly different answer for
some of the questions.

Quote from: Prof. John Bull on November 13, 2009, 01:15:09 PM
It is my observation that most stage performers don't try to engage with patrons outside the context of their formal performances.  Being deliberately broad so as not to offend anyone, I would note that most musicians, magicians, comedians, fire performers, dancers, and acrobats I have seen perform their shows and then either disappear or see the faire without adopting a persona and interacting improvisationally with patrons after the hat pass is complete.  Another way of looking at it is that there is little overlap between performers and cast.

I'm wondering...
a) Is my observation accurate?
b) Is this deliberate on the part of faire EDs or just a consequence of non-overlapping skills and interests on the part of the performers?
c) Any good examples of stage acts that don't fit this pattern?


You say "outside the context of their formal performances".  I have to ask what that means.  do you mean stage performers doing a street act as opposed to interacting with you about coming to their next show?  If you mean they don't do street bits with the street cast, then you are mostly correct.  The reason is most stage acts just arrived days before the festival opened, having come from their last festival and as such have not rehearsed anything with the cast to do anything in the street(nor were they hired to do such).  The cast has usually been rehearsing for several weeks at least before a faire opens and have their own thing going.

Is this deliberate?  it's a consequence of the scheduling.  Are you going to pay a stage act money for all the weeks of rehearsal that they will be missing some other show? Very doubtful.

However, I think you're missing something very important.  There are other things that need to be taken care of before and after a stage show.
Why don't you think you ever see the jousters out and about?  They are taking care of the horses.  I've had this same conversation with many people in casts all over the country who always look at the jousters as this aloof group of snobs because they never hang out after the show with the cast or the stage acts.  It's because while you've gone off to dinner after the faire and are sitting there relaxing, they are cleaning, grooming, and feeding those horses.  ...and THEN they get to go to dinner.  I have several friends who are jousters and they are very much tied to the maintenance of the horses, they can't be more than 2 hours away from them unless they have a day off and someone else is taking care of them.

My own show is physically demanding, and afterward I need to stop, drink water, reset props, fix anything that broke, and any number of things to do before the next show.  to give you an idea, at King Richard's my schedule goes like this:  be at front gate and welcome guests, talk up my show, do some juggling at the gate, talk up my show, make some jokes, talk up my show...  then I have 2 stage shows, back to back.  I then have one hour to eat something for lunch after having been on stage for almost an hour and a half.  then I have 2 more shows back to back.  I then take a short break (sarcasm).  I then go back to the front gate and do a little juggling, talk to fans, wave bye to people, and the day is over.  ...I'm swamped.
Do I have interaction with the cast? Sure, if/when I actually see them.  Is it some sort of planned lazzi ....no, but sometimes by half-way point of the faire, sometimes certain things work out.  At one particular faire I was always running to get some food at the same time of day, and passing by some street characters that were always doing some lazzi by this particular tree, so I would stop and interact with them each day, almost a drive-by sort of thing.  eventually we worked out some witty banter, so by the last day of the faire, it was brilliant...  But that was all the time I had to interact.

As for some stage acts that specifically have characters that interact with people (usually, like me, on the way to another show); Don Juan and Miguel, Giacomo the Jester, Looney Lucy... there are so many more, but each one of these people have such strong characters, the interaction can be just a "hello, good day" and you remember it.

Then there is Sir Real the puppet man, who does The Flying Freak show (Sterling, King Richard's, FLARF).  he does a stage act, but he is also out with stilts and hobby horses and other things that have nothing to do with his show.  He doesn't talk about his stage show while doing these other characters.  So, I guess that is the example you're looking for.  Someone who does a stage show and also street that are unrelated.  There are plenty of stage acts that interact, but it is usually related to getting people to their show... after all, it is their main way to make money, the more people at the show, the more potential hat, and the better they look to the ED and faire owner.

...ta da.

Paolo
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