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ibm_usa Special user In Your Mind, Ky, USA 722 Posts |
If your going to be on stage and doing a show business you NEED TO BE IN CONTROL of the audience. It's your show you are resposible for what happens. First off, what I would do if I was dealing with noisy audience members if first request that they are to be quite, second offense, if you are dealing with children, ask that their care taker come in to the room or have the kid leave. Don't be too mean about just be polite.
If you are in a Corporate show or a large audience like a Church group or in a theater, do the same, have them be quite or leave because they are disrupting the show and ruining it for those who want to watch. IF you don't have the guts to ask them, have a stage hand or meet with someone during intermission and have them do the dirty work. IF you are in a Theater with a living breathing theater manager in the building, he will more then likely kick the trouble makers out himself. just remember, unless you put someone else in charge of the show, your the manager of the show and you have the right to take control of your business. plus it will show professionalism and good business management.
"You may think that i only talk of things from the past, you know, history, well magic is history"
-Guy Jarrett "Curiosity isn't a sin Harry, but it should be exorcised with great caution." -Albus Dumbledore (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) http://www.jordanallen-mentalist.webs.com/ |
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Bendy Special user Columbus, Ohio 518 Posts |
Inform the prospective employer prior to, or at, the time the contract is agreed upon that your show requires a certain amount of relative quiet and attention from a certain percentage of the audience, and that you are most often successful in obtaining that without assistance. However, if assistance is needed, will it be available? If not, or if you don't want to request possible assistance in quieting a crowd or directing their attention, then let them know that without that required quiet your show will be dynamically different, but equally entertaining. Let them know you may have to switch from a stage or parlor show to a walk-around, close-up show. That may give you the freedom to adjust your performance to the crowd's needs; rather than attempting to adjust the crowd to your needs. After all, they are the customer. But it would be nice to have that stated up-front, so that they won't be disappointed should you have to change performance styles due to the crowd attitude/noise.
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avimagic Loyal user Hollywood, Florida 235 Posts |
This topic has gotten a lot of responses in a short time. I guess it's something we all identify with. Unlike other problems we encounter, practice and experience won't eventually "cure" the problem; in fact, the opposite is true: the more shows you perform in your career, the greater the chance that you'll encounter a rude crowd.
Here are some tips that have worked for me: 1. LIGHTING I insist that the room be dark with lights only on stage. After one show about 12 years ago when the crowd didn't shut up, I went out and bought my own set of stage lights. As an added bonus, this is a value-added item for which you can charge extra. 2. DINNER If it is a dinner show, I try to go on shortly after dinner has been served. That way, people are shoving food in their mouths and may be less apt to talk. The only drawback is that the wait staff might still be milling about. 3. ASK FOR QUIET CREATIVELY One of my favorite lines: I identify a group of people or particular table in the back of the room and ask, "Can you guys hear me back there?" (They respond, "Yes.") "Oh, good, because I can hear you, and I just wanted to make sure it worked both ways." Always gets a laugh; sometimes shames them into shutting up. 4. CORPORATE INSIDE JOKES When doing a corporate show, I always make an appointment to speak to an insider at the company (usually an H.R. person) in advance. I collect lots of information on inside jokes that everyone at the event will find funny. Nothing grabs their attention like a "roast" of the people they work with on a daily basis. Here are some examples that I have used in the past: - I find out who is known to be the most strict manager. When I'm getting strapped into the straitjacket, I comment, "Man, this thing is more restrictive than Joe Shmoe." - One company I worked for was dealing with a rat infestation in one of their buildings. At the end of the show, I told them that for my grand finale, I was going to introduce my latest invention, the "M4: Magical Mystical Mascot Machine." The M4 (nothing more than a crystal silk cylinder) would create a mascot for their company based upon the company information I feed it. I dropped in some business cards, scraps of documents, bits of fabric, and--you guessed it--a giant realistic toy rat appeared. The crowd went wild! - One admin assistant told me that every time their district manager (her boss) gets out of a meeting with the home office, he needs a shot of Absolut. When I had him on stage doing the Topsy Turvy Bottles, I said to him, "You'll notice these are bottles of Grant's Black Cherry Soda. I want you to know that I chose this beverage on purpose because I knew you didn't meet with Jim and Larry today. If you had, I'd have used Absolut Vodka instead." HUGE laughs from everyone, especially the district manager himself. If you go through your act, you'll be able to find a way to apply almost any inside joke to the patter of your tricks. I've found that people are just as amazed at how I knew so much about the inner workings of their company as they are at the feats of magic I performed. Even the people who "hate magicians" love the show. I've also found that if you hit hard with one of your best inside jokes at the beginning of the performance, they'll usually quiet down and listen for the next one! |
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Dan Paulus Veteran user Utah is isolated from the real world by 343 Posts |
Here's a recent article I wrote on this topic in Visions:
http://www.online-visions.com/realmagic/0710takecharge.html
There is no great genius without a mixture of madness. - Aristotle
Aristotle www.danscomedymagic.com |
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