We’re coming up on the Portland Rose Festival (actually, as of this posting it’s started up) and I’m looking over my act for this gig. What will be interesting is that this is a performance for which I shall not be passing the hat.
A show where you’re trying to get the most money from your audience has subtle differences from a show where you’re being paid a straight fee. The first difference being, of course, Getting The Money. You need to be able to read a crowd and maintain the interest of a very high number of people, not just to amuse them until the end of the show, but also to motivate them to put a few bucks in your hat. This can lead to making edits in your act to move things along if you feel the energy level waning (or if a parade is coming by your stage, or the Joust is starting in 10 minutes, or a number of other things that can distract your crowd at a Faire).
In a straight fee show, the pressure is off… a little bit. You can spend a bit more time on moving the show along and if you do lose a few audience members, it’s not such a big deal. This is, after all, an outdoor venue and your potential audience has a thousand little distractions all around them.
This is never an excuse to Be Boring (Tobias Law #1: Thou Shalt Not Be Boring. Ever. Ever. Ever!). The show still needs to flow, move forward, and keep the laughter and interaction going. But there are some small, subtle changes that can be made. For instance, you can actually give some of your more … esoteric jokes a little more time to sink in. In fact, slowing down is usually the best answer to “The crowd didn’t get it!”.
Another thing I have to look at in the stuff I say when I perform is that, well, this ain’t a Renaissance Faire. So some of the things I say at Faire would be not entirely appropriate – mostly because of context.
For example: When I start the Mongolian Pop Knot bit, I introduce the rope as “the kind you might find in any bedroom.” After the almost-mandatory roll of half-nervous laughter, I explain that in the Renaissance a bed used rope to hold up the mattress. This is a good line for a historical event. Not so much for a modern venue.
I’ll be taking a “Scouting Run” of Waterfront Village this weekend to make sure I know where my stage is and so forth. We’ll see what revisions I’ll be making after that..
Tags: working conditions
