On performance dynamic.

I play a fairly small role in my current show, A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline. It's an odd thing to say, because I am the only other actor in the show besides the star, and I easily occupy about a third of the overall stage time. However, it is not at all sour grapes to acknowledge the fact that I am not the person people are there to see. Her name's in the title, folks. Basically, what I do is facilitate costume changes, set dramatic tone and give Pats a breather here and there.

There's been a really interesting dynamic in this show. As a precursor, I should mention that this is our third mounting of this production, after a fairly successful run in Arizona over a year ago and a wildly received mounting in Pennsylvania prior to that. Patsy has essentially been beat-to-beat identical in all three shows, where I, in contrast, seem to be in a constant state of flux from city to city.

A bit of background: I do three comic routines, two of which are "pat" stand-up shtick from the early 1950s, appropriate to the time and place where Patsy would have held these performances. As such, the material is not the highest of high-brow; quite on the contrary it dips quite low...which was hee-larious during that time. The audience is basically expected to make the connection that this is the raw, churlish "humor of the day," not at all in step with the political correctness and strictures (thanks, Fiona!) of present day comedy. It works some nights. Other nights, BOY does it not.

I guess at this point I can say that the Pennsylvania crowd "got it" the best. This is not a value judgment, it's just what happened.  Many of the "Grand Ole Opry Comic's" jokes were of the "my wife is so fat / so ugly / so dumb" variety, and the PA crowd seemed to get a swift sense of just where I was going and guffawed along accordingly.

Then I got to Arizona.

I was stunned. Stunned by the bleak silence of a crowd that was clearly not along for the ride; on the contrary, they were not inured with the idea that this hillbilly dope with the ugly suit and cowlick was degrading a woman who was not available to comment, nor allowed to defend herself.  I was really crushed by the response. I immediately went into defense mode, questioning the intelligence of the material, the attitude of my delivery and numerous other factors. Then I thought of the words "performance dynamic."  It's a rare opportunity to be able to fine-tune material in a theatrical environment, especially after opening.  It raised concerns especially because I didn't want to feel as though I was giving in to people who simply didn't find me funny.  In a larger piece with greater emotional and plot stakes, I certainly wouldn't have been able to tailor a performance in this way...but it was the right thing to do this time. 

But...that's what I'm there for, and it's all I have to offer them, right? Right.

So, I began re-tooling. I altered the character's persona in order to show the crowd my belly, and keep the threat to a minimum. Any insulting material I converted to self-effacing humor because hey...if they liked the new jokes they'd be there with me, and if they didn't...they'd agree with the target selection!

The dynamic changed overnight. The new material got great laughs (for not-so-great-to-begin-with jokes), my fears of creating some sort of emotional block between Patsy and the audience were alleviated, and we started to have more fun as a group.

It's basically the same in Florida, though we do clearly have a group here much more anxious to get to the music. It's an East Coast vacationer crowd (even more so than the Pennsylvanians, who seem far more laid back than Florida retirees) and perhaps the best direction I got on this leg was to just speed everything up. People around here talk faster, move faster...the show is at its shortest running time ever, even the laughs come faster. It's made me think of tours I've been on- how sometimes the dynamic between cast and audience can be so different from city to city...in those sort of situations you can cite numerous reasons: regional political views, politeness of the community (nice people who love the show but are afraid to cheer), even exposure to theatre...but in a fully realized production show, there's little opportunity to tailor to the crowd. Perhaps a subtle line reading here, a drop in volume to demand attention there...but in the end, Dolly comes down the staircase, that cat's gotta get in the tire, and the fat train wins the big race.

Almost 200 people have read my entries so far. I really appreciate that. I'll keep writing them.
-c-