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Rob Wallis New user The Other California 73 Posts |
Or something like that. I'm wondering how I should deal with a situation where I want to interact with a number of audience members using billets, etc., when the stage is four feet above the audience.
I've done close-up and cabaret type stuff, but this stage stuff is new to me. Do I have them come up to the front of the stage and sort of tower over them? Crouch down to hand them billets, etc.? In some cases there would be too much dead time to bring them all up on stage, and it's sometimes better if they stay in the audience, as in Bob Cassidy's Name/Place routine, etc. Thanks for any input.
Tig Wallis
The Comic Psychic |
Lee Marelli Special user Aurora, Colorado 876 Posts |
Rob, there is nothing wrong with getting off the stage yourself when necessary. I do it and so do many other mentalists who work on a stage. Normally, there is space between the stage and the first row of seats. For blocking, stage position, etc., just remember, when you go off stage, where you are becomes your stage. So treat it like one. Hope this helps.
"Mentalism is a state of mind." Marelli
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Suffolk Veteran user 400 Posts |
Rob,
I think the real key is not to do close up effects on stage. An easy mistake to make, I had real problems the first time I did a stage show after years of just doing close up. If you still want to do things with billets etc., either get down with them or better still have them come on stage with you. But what a great excuse to develop new material and buy those props you've always wanted but not been able to justify ;-) Doug |
Ian Rowland Special user London 889 Posts |
To state the obivous, Rob, experience is the best teacher. You will, over time, either find good ways to present some of your favourite repertoire as stage items OR develop new repertoire which better suits the stage setting.
To some extent you have answered your own question about the specifics of something like billet work. Don't trip yourself up by thinking there are hard and fast rules: there are none! In some contexts, it will be best to leave the stage and 'visit' the audience for certain steps of the routine. In other contexts, you will find things work best when audience members come up on stage. Whatever works, works. All I would say is that, based on feedback from laymen, many tend to feel 'left out' if things happen down in a part of the audience that they themselves cannot see very clearly, and this encourages a lapse in attention. For this reason, where possible I tend to prefer to actually get people up on stage, or at least standing up, with a view to allowing everyone else to get a clear view of what's going on. The problem of 'dead time' while people make their way on to the stage can usually be solved by thinking of additional and relevant things to say or do ("while John makes his way up here, let me show everyone this set of famous places from around the world... a pretty good selecton as you can see..." etc.), or with humour. Marc Salem is particularly adept at keeping the pace flowing, even though he gets people up on stage throughout his act. Banachek too. You are obviously giving your stage craft plenty of thought. Always ask yourself: can everyone in the audience clearly follow what is going on? If not, and if some lines of sight are less than perfect (often the case), you need to keep everyone well-informed as to what is happening. This doesn't need to be tedious or laboured - sometimes it just comes down to a couple of brief explanatory sentences so that everyone understands what is happening. Related to your question... the fact that we sometimes use small props that look relatively insignificant can be turned to our advantage. In most billet routines, for example, we don't really want to emphasise the physical billet itself, and indeed we might be pleased if the audience could be gently encouraged to forget that anything was physically written down at all! This is why we always emphasise what was thought of, e.g. a name that resonates with a participants' heart, and not the bit of paper it was written on.
www.ianrowland.com . Working Magic.
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