I very regularly visit plays, musicals, stand up acts & other similar events… I like them a lot more than either serials on television or any movies playing in the theatres… I find these events to be a more creative, challenging to pull off, closer to reality & definitely more entertaining…….
Anyone who has been on stage performing for an audience would agree when I say this that an artist does not need to finish his part go backstage & then analyze or ask someone as to how the performance was or what was the audience reaction… within a minute an artist is on stage he can immediately know whether the energy is getting channeled back from the audience to him or not…. The reaction need not always be laughter but would be the similarity in emotion which the artist is trying to convey through his or her work… if the artist is performing comedy… the emotion channeled back from the audience would be laughter & joy… if the artist is trying to convey grief… the emotion channeled back from the audience would be grief felt by the audience…… anger for anger.. sympathy for sympathy & so on… this channeling & live exchange of energy & emotion starts within the first few minutes an artist is on stage……
Last month I attended a standup comedy night, the show featured four artists each having a solo act of around 30 to 35 Minutes with the total duration of appx two & a quarter hours….. the act of first artist was a big success the entire audience laughed their socks off……….. the main thought of this post came to me from the act of the second artist… since I visit these events frequently I was aware that the artist performing the second act is a full time actor but not a full time stand up comedian & obviously majority of the audience did not had this information… and not being a full time comedian led to his act being very less impactful and hilarious then the artist which preceded him or succeeded him… the audience was barely reacting….the laughter from the earlier act had now transformed into chuckles…. That too was not very frequent….. I would still commend the artist because he gave his 100% throughout… he finished his act & was sent off with a courtesy warm applause… the two acts which followed his again picked up the tempo to end the evening on a high….
On my way back this got me thinking as to how difficult it would be for the artist to go through this experience…… he would have known how his act would go within minutes of him being up there on the stage trying to interact with the audience… trying to initiate the energy exchange channel of the same type of energy which he was making a sincere attempt to pass to the audience….the impact of the situation gets compounded because he is doing a stand up comedy act… he is suppose to look joyous… funny…. Hilarious…. Happy… contend with himself….. although every second he is spending on stage is draining so much out of him because he is passing energy to 450 people sitting in the audience but barely getting anything back to refill himself to continue…… even once his act was over & he would have been sitting backstage, then also no one would need to tell him that his act was not as effective as others Stage is a live X Ray machine.. the results are there live for everyone including the patient to see.. the printed report later is just a document conveying the same thing not of much use other then placing it in a file……
A lot changed for me after that evening… my respect & appreciation for that artist increased a million times… infact for all the artists who either have an off day or a show which does not go as they wanted it to… or all the artists who have not yet mastered the art of engaging the audience every time they are on stage… but still having the courage to perform on the satge…... willing to go out there and fight the silent battle in which you as an artist know the result within the first few minutes…. but you still carry on fighting either for your fellow soldiers who are the other actors on stage or for your king which is the audience watching you…………..
Rafael Nadal once after losing to Roger Federer in one of the grand slams said, “One needs to face defeats to value their victories”… for all the artists who have experienced this or are experiencing this… a big round of applause & appreciation from me for continuing the fight……. Warriors who assume legendary status are not those who always were on the winning side…. but those who gave it their all at the time of battle……..
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