As of 25.12.2013, Wikifonia, the on-line publisher of sheet music which combined a Music

XML-based technology in a wiki system, with copyright clearance, is a thing of the past. If one

brings up the site, there is a message, “Wikifonia is not available anymore. Find sheet music

on musescore.com.”

So… it is no more!  It has ceased to be!  It is now 'istory! It has run down the curtain.  IT IS AN EX-SITE!

Ah well, it was good while it lasted… as the soprano said to the sexton!

I have removed the blog ‘SPOTS BEFORE YOUR EYES’, where I gave information about Wikifonia.

It’s the Araby sandwich syndrome! Let me explain… when I was a whippersnapper, one of my

favourite biscuits was called “Araby sandwich”, which comprised a date filling, in a sealed sandwich of softish biscuit. I believe they were made by Fox’s of Batley, but I could be wrong on that count, and a search on the worldwide web has produced zippo. However, whoever made them stopped making them, and never started again. I used to like kidney soup, which was available in tins, but this appears to have disappeared off the face of the planet. Parkinson’s Doncaster butterscotch went missing, then had a revival a few years back, but that appears to have been short lived. And there’s more…

Having had a look at musescore.com site , I reckon it doesn’t really compare with Wikifonia. Someone has recommended chordmusic.com, which might be a better bet.

Websites listed are offered not as recommendations, but purely for information.

HM IN PANTO

Have a look at – bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-25202454 – for some wonderful photographs of Lilibet and her sister strutting their stuff in pantos performed at Windsor between 1940 and 1944. A passable pair of pins too ma’am!

If the Queen wrote pantomimes, would she get royalties?

HORSING AROUND

The Wiere Brothers… Harry (Born Berlin 1906-1992), Herbert (Born Vienna 1908-1999), and Sylvester (Born Prague 1909-1970)… appeared as live performers from the 1920s to the late 1960s, and in films from the 1930s to the 1960s, including ‘Double Trouble’ (1967), with Elvis Presley.

In 1962, the threesome made their way into television on their own series called “Oh, Those Bells!” which aired on CBS, and contained slapstick comedy.

They continued to perform up until the 1970s, however following Sylvester’s death in July 1970, the remaining two brothers, Harry and Herbert, discontinued their act.

Forget the dancing, it would take too long to get to that standard, but there are some marvy moves that you might use from the pantomime horse bit, which starts at 1 minute 4 seconds into the video ... providing you practice of course.

Forget the dancing, it would take too long to get to that standard, but there are some marvy moves that you might use from the pantomime horse bit, which starts at 1 minute 4 seconds into the video ... providing you practice of course.

ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE…

Here is some information from the website of a small amateur drama group based in one of the southern counties… but then, where I live, most counties are in the south, so that’s not giving much away, is it? To further preserve the anonymity, let’s call them the 'Pastope Players'. It was apropos their forthcoming pantomime production, and it appears here exactly as writ... warts and all.

There may not be parts for everyone, but as you know it is our usual approach to try to fit most volunteers into the production, by re-writing the script or as appropriate.

The are many parts that are there to fill, from treading the boardwalk, (be it to act or sing), help with backstage work from sorting props, designing, building and painting scenery as well as 'on the night' help with scene changing, lighting and sound, to the dressing room to help with make-up and costume design. Everyones role is as important as the other, It is all part of being invloved in a production.

I remember “Under the Boardwalk”, but "treading the boardwalk"? Oh, dear!

Of course people are perfectly free to join amateur dramatic and/or amateur operatic societies, and put on pantomimes. Let’s just be grateful they don’t take up architecture, or surgery, otherwise the graveyards would be full of unfortunate individuals who received inadequate medical attention after having had a building fall on them.

They include a quote from a review of their previous production, which appeared in a local rag…

… a funny script with so many local and topical references – just what panto should be.

Well… no! Panto should be well-acted, well-sung, well-danced, well-staged, well-dressed, well-lit, etc. with a decent cup of tea or coffee during the interval.

Why do I persist? Here’s a quote from Harrison Ford, speaking about his early clashes with film directors/producers indifferent to performance standards… “From the beginning I believed that staying the course was what counted. I outlast the bastards. The sheer process of attrition wears the others down. That was my belief then. It still is now.” ‘The Sporting  World’ (Lynam and Teasdale) BBC Books. 1994

I am not against amateurs by the way. Over the years, I have been in quite a number of shows with some very talented amateurs, and I have also appeared in productions with professionals who acted more off stage than they did on.

EXIT STAGE LEFT…

A quote from Will Rogers: "He (Texas Jack Jnr.) had a little Wild West aggregation that visited the camps and did a tremendous business. I did some roping and riding, and Jack, who was one of the smartest showmen I ever knew, took a great interest in me. It was he who gave me the idea for my original stage act with my pony. I learned a lot about the show business from him. He could do a bum act with a rope that an ordinary man couldn't get away with, and make the audience think it was great, so I used to study him by the hour, and from him I learned the great secret of the show business – knowing when to get off. It's the fellow who knows when to quit that the audience wants more of."

The youngest of eight children, Will Rogers was born in 1879 at the family ranch in Oologah, Indian Territory (what is now Oklahoma). His first real job was in the livestock business in Argentina. He transported pack animals across the South Atlantic from Buenos Aires to South Africa for use in the Boer War (1899-1902), and it was there that he joined ‘Texas Jack's Wild West Show’, where he drew upon his expertise with horse and lasso. Returning to America, he brought his talents to vaudeville, and by 1917 was a Ziegfeld Follies star.

Roger’s cracker-barrel philosophy; folksy humour, and pithy comments about the government appealed to the average American citizen.

He starred in 71 films and several Broadway productions. In 1934, he was voted the most popular male actor in Hollywood. His career broadened beyond the realm of show business. He became a prominent radio broadcaster and political commentator, and wrote 4,000 syndicated columns and six books.

Tragically, in 1935, his life was cut short at the age of 55, when he died in the Arctic crash of a plane piloted by the world-renowned, one-eyed pioneer aviator, Wiley Post (in which Post died as well).

Texas Jack (Jnr.) c.1860-1905, was the adopted son of frontier scout, actor and cowboy, Texas Jack Omohundro, who in 1872, appeared with "Buffalo Bill" Cody in one of the original Wild West Shows, in Chicago.

LET THOSE THAT PLAY YOUR CLOWNS…

Robert L. Mills writing about a sketch he wrote for Bob Hope and George Gobel, who plays a Polish American Football player…

"Since I know not a word of Polish, while writing the dialog, I came up with what I thought sounded like passable phrases. George, being the consummate pro he was, didn’t make up his own gibberish but memorized mine! That’s the ultimate example of an actor’s faithfulness to the written word. Would that they were all like that."

Hear, hear!

Perhaps you have heard of Bob Hope, but George Gobel is not as well-known. He was born in Chicago in 1919, and started in show business at the age of eleven, singing on radio as ‘Little George Gobel’. Later, he became ‘Lonesome George’, guitarist and singer of cowboy ballads. From 1954 to 1960 he starred in NBC’s ‘The George Gobel Show’, for which he won an Emmy in 1955.

His films include, ‘The Birds and the Bees’ (1956), and ‘I Married a Woman’ - with Diana Dors! (1958)

He died at the age of 71, in 1991.

Here is George Gobel on the ‘Liberace Show’, singing with the ‘chromium-plated’ pianist, and Trisha Noble. It’s a good number, which I think I will try and work into a pantomime.

MAKING THE BEST OF A BADDIE JOB

Via this blog, I try to offer assistance to people presenting pantomimes, whether they are using one of my scripts or not. Also, whenever I send letter to a group that has decided to produce one of my pantos, I conclude the communication with… “If you require any further help or information, please do not hesitate to contact me.”

Well, someone took me up on that recently, and it was for a non-pantomime presentation as part of their company’s season. They asked if I knew where they could obtain the villain’s ident music that was played on the piano over silent films. It’s the one that goes… “Dah-dah-dah-dah-daaah-ra-ta-ta-ta.

I had a reference for it on – freesfx.co.uk – where it is listed as ‘Cartoon piano riff – sneaky sounding’, but it ends rather abruptly.

Then I remembered that I had it on an LP entitled, ‘Music from the Silent Films’, played by one Mike Napoli. When I found the dusty disc in a cupboard full of vinyl, I discovered there are no sleeve notes, and the record label simply lists the track as ‘The Villain Theme’. However (CUE FANFARE) a Google search, ‘Villain Theme’ brought up the website – soundandthefoley.com/2013/04/04/villains- theme – which solves the mystery.

It’s available on – amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001GITW8G/ref=oss_product

Always glad to be of assistance, or as the French say… knobblyknees oblige.

HANDS UP

English pantomime owes its origins to Commedia dell’arte, presented by travelling players in 16^th century Italy. It was a very physical type of theatre that used dance, music, tumbling, acrobatics, and buffoonery (good word!).

Commedia gave us the term slapstick, which comes from the "batacchio", or "bataccio", a flexible pair of paddles fastened together with a spacer at one end. It was literally a stick for slapping. Actors could strike a blow to a person with a loud clapping sound but without causing any physical damage. Of course, as Sir Isaac Newton so accurately put it, “To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction… “ So, the actor being whacked, must react accordingly, to punch the gag.

In the 17^th century, the Commedia characters Arlecchino (Harlequin), Columbina (Columbine), Pedrolino (Pierrot), Pantalone (Pantaloon) and Clown, found their way into the English harlequinade. The great Joseph Grimaldi expanded the role of Clown, and the rest, as they say, is hysterical.

However, the most famous character to emerge from Commedia dell’arte, at least as far as those of us based in Blighty are concerned, is Pulcinella, whose name was anglicised to Punchinello, and then abbreviated to Punch.

On the 9^th of May 1662, Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary, that he enjoyed "...an Italian puppet play that is within the rayles there, which is very pretty, the best that ever I saw..." So, Mr. Punch, the prince of puppets, the manifestation of the Lord of Misrule, and Trickster figures of deep-rooted mythologies, has survived for over 350 years, despite the invention of the cinema, television, computer games, and political correctness. Long may he continue!

Which brings me to The Muppets, who have carried on the tradition of both slapstick and Mr. Punch. My regular reader will know of my affection and admiration for these premier puppet performers and their style of humour. Way back in June 2011, when I started this blog, I referred to a journalist who reviewed my version of ‘Ali Baba’, and  described it as “… infectious anarchy… “ I was as chuffed as the aforementioned Mr. Punch. I hadn’t deliberately set out to achieve that result, it just came out in the wash... so to speak. There were probably quite a few influences that brought me to that point… the Marx Brothers, the Goons, Frank Randle, Mad Magazine, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Black Adder, and most assuredly The Muppets. However, from then on, I decided that if I thought it was funny, it could go into a pantomime.

I came across some quotes from the English-born James Bobin who directed the 2011 film, ‘The Muppets’. He says…

“They are so strong as characters, so fantastic. All we need to do is be true to what they were originally true to."

“It was just still nice to know that there was something still left out there that kids could find funny without adult humour that adults could find funny too.”

And, from a review of the film on the GIZMODO  website…

“It would be easy to ruin the Muppets: Just make them modern.”

“‘The Muppets’ is very much, an island out of place in time.”

“But while it makes nods to the present day, it doesn't use our time as a plot mechanism.“

I couldn’t have put it better… and I’ve been putting it for some time about pantomime!

If you want to learn how to do pantomime, you could do a lot worse that look at The Muppets. 

Here's some Muppet mayhem and merriment. Sucre bleu!

GIANT STEPS

Presenting the pantomime ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ creates two major problems for amateur groups, particularly those with limited resources, performing in church halls and the like. The first is that just prior to the interval Jack must start to climb the beanstalk, waving to everyone, as he sets off on his quest.

Short of using a rope ladder or something similar, which would of course, need to be very securely fixed to a strong anchor point above the stage, this can be achieved by means of a small step ladder hidden behind a fence, or a ground row of foliage etc. Just two or three feet elevation, accompanied by dramatic music, is sufficient to set up the second half of the show.

The other problem is the Giant, which need only make a brief appearance, but the big guy must be mobile, and even attempt a brief sword fight with Jack.

Reclining atop a shelf of books in my office, wearing only a pair of combat boots, is an Action Man figure, which has been there for quite some time. Please don’t get the wrong idea, because I acquired it from a charity shop to serve as a scale model that I could dress up as the Giant from said pantomime. I would then photograph it, and along with some construction ideas, make my efforts available to groups who decided to use my script.

However, now there is no need, as I have come across a crackerjack creation built by one Bald Brain, who describes himself quite correctly, as a designer, inventor and dreamer. Have a look at his website – baldbrain.com

Click on ‘Costumes’ in the column on the left, and go to ‘Page 3’. Under the heading ‘Freakshow Jester Halloween Costume 2010’, you will find illustrations of the original sketches, the design process, and the finished costume, plus a video, presenting a pièce de résistance.

The end product is a humdinger design that looks so easy to wear, and manoeuvre. I reckon that with the variations of an appropriate head and costume, it could be a jolly keen giant.

Since BB has published pictures of the production stages, and states “… I've got some how-to's for Halloween costumes and haunted house props.” He obviously has no objections to amateur groups copying the basic design. I checked with him via e-mail, just to be sure, and he gave his approval.

Maybe the metalwork might prove a touch tricky, but perhaps plastic tubing, or willow withies, could  do the job just as well.

There is certainly ample inspiration provided by the building sequence, and demonstration of the final result.

On the same page as the Jester, under the heading, ‘Oversized Costume Starters’, the follicularly challenged chappy offers “… some quick and easy designs to make shoulder harnesses for oversized costumes,”, and there is another brilliant biggie featured under the heading, ‘Jumbo the Clown Halloween Costume 2008'.

The whole site is an Aladdin’s Cave. Come to think of it… I would like to see his sketches for that setting.

QUOTE CUISINE

I reckon it is very pleasing when one discovers that someone who is tons more talented than oneself confirms a view with regards to the entertainment business that one has been harping on about for quite some time,

"Performing onstage is about sharing something, not about proving something." (Yo-Yo Ma)

Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist who has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, and the Polar Music Prize in 2012 . He is one of the best-known cellists of the modern age, and is widely considered to be one of the most talented. But then you knew that, didn’t you?

  

Take heed you ego trippers!

3D OR NOT 3D

Some six months ago, I was going to post a blog about 3-D films. I had come across a piece on the BBC News website which was headed, ‘Has 3D film-making had its day?’ What interested me was the fact that a British cinematographer who had shot Hollywood movies, stated, "3D is antithetical to storytelling, where immersion in character is the goal.”

So, there was a parallel with what I have been advocating for pantomime. Of course, that’s in 3D, but often immersion in character comes well down the list of priorities. Lots of so-called actors barely dip their toes in the water.

Surprise, surprise, only last week, CNN reported that the Disney-owned ESPN, one of biggest names to quickly get onboard the format, will cease broadcasting 3D sports content this year, shutting down the ESPN 3D channel.

Apparently, "The excitement around 3D TV was coming from many places: the industry, the TV manufacturers and the content providers," a technology analyst stated, adding, "But not the consumers, and ultimately that is what proved fatal."

So you should beware not only the Jabberwock, but also trendy gimmicks.

Trust in me, I’ll see you through.

LET’S GET PHYSICAL

Hows about that caption on their promotional video… ‘Physical Comedy – The newest oldest art form.’ Stick with it, because it still works… if you do it well.

I really go for the gag with the passing ‘trees’ at 1’ 27” into the video. That’s got to go in a production. 

Parallel Exit is based in New York. Their work blends theatre, dance, and music.

They claim that their goal is to create moments of simple magic for audiences of all ages. Sounds all right to me!

TRUE TO TYPE 

In my blog ‘PROPER PROPS’, 18 October 2011, I reminded readers that “In pantomime hand props should, wherever possible, be big, bold, bright, colourful, and very visual.” and I suggest that lettering should be large. This applies not only to props, but to scenery as well of course. In ‘Aladdin’, the words ‘TWANKEE’S Swankee Laundry’… or whatever… should be big and bold. On some amateur group’s websites I see pictures of scenery where the lettering is somewhat small and/or spidery.

The illustration right shows a model I made for a washing machine prop to offer as a simple possibility for groups presenting my version of ‘Aladdin’, in which there is a comedy routine using such apparatus.

It’s very basic, but then, providing it looks good, that’s all it needs to be.

The appliance should be a minimum 30 ins. long, 16 ins. wide, and 28 ins. deep, although it could be bigger depending on storage space in the wings.

The typeface is ‘Prawn Handwritten’,

and I reckon in has a kind of Anglicised/Chinese look.

It has never been easier for Joe (or Josephine) Public to produce good quality lettering on props and scenery, and here’s how you do it…

First of all you need a computer, or a willing friend who has one. There are lots of fonts available for download, and I have bought a couple of CDs at charity shops for the grand outlay of 75p.

If you have Word Art or something similar, then the world is your bivalve mollusc.

Type the word or words in the chosen text, squash it, elongate it, change the letter spacing or whatever until you’ve got it as you want, then enlarge it to fit on an A4 sheet… if necessary, flip it so that it runs along the longest length. Then, print it off in outline… no need to waste valuable ink filling in the outline.

Next, scale it up to the finished size. How do you do this? Have a look at – art-is-fun.com/grid-method.html – this explains how to use the grid method to enlarge or transfer an image. Here it’s an illustration, but the same thing applies to lettering.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-XXL-Street-Stencils-%26-Get-Away-WIth-It/step5/Scale-up-your-letters/ - shows the overhead projector method, but it also includes the grid method.

Once you have got the letters enlarged to the required size then, using s craft knife, cut them out as stencils, not forgetting to leave little bridges on the letters A, B, D, O, P, Q, R. Next, position your stencil on the prop or scenery, secure it with short strips of masking tape, and apply emulsion paint by means of a bath sponge (available very cheaply from Wilkinson’s). You can cut the sponge into handy, manageable-size pieces to suit your lettering, but don’t have them too big. Don’t dilute the paint so that it is too runny, and don’t overload the sponge with paint. It’s best sometimes to have a few test dabs on a spare piece of paper.

I find that for one-off stencils, 80gsm paper is quite suitable. It is easily found in A3 size, and sheets can be stuck together with adhesive tape, if required. Using thicker card can result in ‘fuzzy’ edges to your lettering.

Don’t forget to fill in the ‘bridge’ gaps.

You could of course produce quite large individual letters on A4 paper, which would eliminate the need to enlarge them further, but having whole words means that you can get the spacing right, and, if necessary, you can distort the lettering… in an artistic way of course.

It does make sense to choose a font that doesn’t have too many ‘twiddly bits’.

CLASS ACT #12

I like physical comedians, and Tony Hancock wasn’t really in that category, unless one includes his occasional facial contortions. Hancock’s style of humour was, if anything, closer to the kitchen sink dramas of the late 1950s, than it was to pantomime. I include him here, not only because he was a class act in the delivery of lines, but also because in a book I am currently reading… “The Masters of Sitcom. From Hancock to Steptoe. Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.’ compiled by Christopher Stevens*, Ray Galton is quoted as saying, “He (Tony Hancock) was marvellous to write for because he never tried to insert his own material into the scripts.” Way-hay!

So, this British icon, who, in 1961, at the peak of his popularity, was reaching one third of the population with his television show, trusted his writers, did he? Why then, do people we have never heard of, or never will hear of, step on stage in an amateur pantomime and think they can do better than the lad himself? I would be interested to receive any answers to this conundrum that do not include the words ‘ego’, and ‘trip’.

The clip is from the film, ‘The Rebel’, which was released in 1961. It was written by Galton and Simpson, with contributions from Hancock himself. For me it suffers somewhat from having to meet the feature-length film running time of 105 minutes. It had to be ‘opened out’ as it were, and Hancock was at his best in more claustrophobic settings.

However, this is one of my favourite comedy bits in any film, and I often quote from it. It’s almost surreal, and yet it’s also so mundane. The waitress is the delightful Liz Fraser, and the café owner is Mario Fabrizi, a very reliable member of the regular ensemble who appeared in ‘Hancock’s Half Hour’. Notice how all three actors play the characters. They don’t force the comedy. Liz Fraser’s, “No froth!” is brilliant.

I would love to have written a comedy sketch about froth on coffee… heigh-ho!

* http://christopherstevens.info/

NO LAUGHING MATTER 

Trying to analyse comedy has been described as like trying to catch smoke. Difficult, yes, but we know what smoke is comprised of, what it looks like, and we and can find ways to channel it up a chimney, or put it in a container.

Any road up… here goes!

First of all, and most importantly, we must be aware that there is no room for self-indulgence in comedy and the final authority on whether something is funny or not is always going to be the audience. Ernie Wise once said, "We may think we've put on a first-rate performance, but when some little guy comes up to us and says – “I saw you last night and you were bloody awful” – that little guy is always right. End of argument! Pleasing the public is the beginning and end of it."

Laugh getting depends 75% on the actor’s technique and 25% on the point of the joke. To make people laugh requires a considerable amount of serious preparation and forethought.

I included the following joke in the first ever pantomime I wrote… a version of ‘Dick Whittington’…

                       

DAME                    (TO IDLE JACK) Can you sing?

IDLE JACK            Can I sing? Hah! I once sang for the King of Siam!

DAME                    The King of Siam?

IDLE JACK            Yes! At least he said he was! He said… if you’re a singer, I’m the King of Siam!

It’s not the greatest gag in the world, but rehearsal after rehearsal, the actor playing Idle Jack

blew it, big time. Eventually he admitted the reason for this was… he didn’t understand the joke… simple as it was!

You must be aware of joke construction and what makes a joke funny. No magician could perform a trick without having total knowledge and control of its physical and psychological elements. It’s the same with a joke.

So… perhaps we should have as Rule No.1 for aspiring comedians, working with other people’s material – make sure you get the point of the joke. Otherwise, you have little chance of getting any kind of laugh with it.

                       

The punch line gets its name from the delivery technique used. You must punch the line out a little harder and with a slightly different voice than the rest of the joke. Say it louder and more clearly than you said the setup lines. If the audience does not hear the punch line, they are not going to laugh. Just before the punch line you should pause slightly to emphasise and draw special attention to the line.

After you deliver the line, don't utter another sound. Give the audience a chance to laugh. Words or phrases appended to the climax tend to delay or impede laughter. Until you get some experience, it is really tough to wait. Beginners tend to be afraid that no laughter will come, so they keep going. If you keep talking during this period, you will easily squelch the laughter. As your confidence builds, pausing will become easier and easier. Sometimes waiting the audience out will actually give them a cue to laugh even if the joke wasn't that great.

When you deliver your punch line, deliver it to one person and one person only. It doesn't matter how large the crowd is, you can look one person right in the eye and deliver your line.

                                   

Farce and comedy techniques are obviously required in pantomime, but its uniqueness demands other skills.

Playing ‘out front’ is sternly rebuked in naturalistic plays, but is an essential skill in pantomime. The actor should try to find every opportunity to point a line in the direction of the audience. Often this may seem quite unnatural, as the normal thing is to look at the person you are talking to, but pantomime is not ‘normal’, and its exaggerated style allows, even demands, that the actors should pull the audience into the production as much as possible, and maximise audience involvement. The Dame will try to build up a rapport with them as confidants, the Principal Boy will proclaim his courage and get them on his side against the villain, who will taunt them… and so on, and so on.

There are specific ‘out front’ lines, which are designated as such in the script. The audience participation routines are an obvious example, but often the tendency is to overdo these and miss out on some of the less obvious examples of playing ‘out front’. Try to get the balance right, and this will help to add variety to the performance and make it much more rounded and complete.

Don't just invent business. You need to find motivation, and it must have timing, and  technique. You mustn't louse up the joke with physical "business" that distracts the audience.

You have to know where the laughs are, and then define them. The first thing you have to do is study your script, and you have to make a mark where you believe the laughs are. This way you leave room for the audience to react. Your laughs come from your knowledge of them, not accidentally.

Funny is easy; you can play anything funny; resist that. If everything is funny, nothing is funny, and you will wear an audience out.

Don't go for all laughs, only ones that are important. Don't try to make it as funny as possible. Don't work so hard. The material is funny.

When you are reading your script and you know where the jokes are, put a slash mark next to them so you know when to do the beat. The beat is no more time than time to inhale.

Comedy is a science. First start with characters, find out who are they, how they feel, what they want, and then add the comedy. Comedy has to start with convincing the audience. Unless the audience believes in the character, there is no basis.

"In the evolution of a performance… (Stanley Baxter) doesn’t think about where he’ll get laughs until a very late stage. The early work is concentrated on those dramatic high points that he regards as keys to his character’s development." ‘Plays And Players’ December 1977

What is the underlying joke?

There is no joke unless you react.

Pace has nothing to do with hurrying. Pace is doing away with meaningless pauses.

Playing comedy can’t be sloppy. It must be precise. Understand every single word. Comedy is clarity, skill and timing. Comedy is technique.

The minute you think you’re a comedian, you’re not funny.

BOXING CLEVER 

I include a comedy boxing routine in my version of ‘Babes in the Wood’.

Yes, I am aware that there are some people who don’t approve of that sort of thing being performed upon a stage. This attitude is widespread in the arena of sanitising humour, done in the name of correctness. As far as power, and any subsequent attempt to control is concerned, the first thing to go, is the sense of humour. This is a very old, knockabout routine, done purely for laughs, so if you don’t approve then tough beef (or is it horsemeat?).

The version I use is based on the one described in Mark Stolzenberg’s book, ‘Be A Clown’. Have a look at the video for a variation on the theme. Notice that it isn't simply three guys just goofing about. The moves are rehearsed, and not rushed.

The sophisticates and the small fry seem to be enjoying it… so there you go!

You fun starts at 1’56” into the video.

YET ANOTHER GOOD IDEA, SON!

I don’t really see any pantomimes in production, so maybe you have all caught on to this idea, but if you haven’t, here goes…

The other evening after dusk, I saw a young girl walking along the road with her parents, and she was wearing light-up shoes, which were flashing as she walked. I immediately thought that this type of footwear would be a great accessory for fairies in pantomimes… not the Christmas-tree-type fairy, but the kookier characters.

However, a search on the worldwide web brought up the light-up shoes illustrated, which could work for the Christmas tree fairy, or hows about Cinderella?

 

I haven’t priced these items, and I reckon they don’t come cheap. You might find some techie who could make light work of creating some for you Ouch! Light-up shoe accessories are available, and a Google search will bring up some suppliers. youtu.be/LlCyJI9LpGU – shows you the construction basics.

I also came across this interesting use of glowsticks, illustrated left. Maybe an idea for a monster, an alien, or some enchanted beings. glowsticks.co.uk – has a full range of glowsticks and novelties.

YEAR BY YEAR

Why do so many amateur drama/operatic societies promote their shows with posters that do not include the year in the date of the performances?

Presumably people keep programmes, flyers and even posters from their shows in a keepsake box, or whatever. They show them to family and friends over the years, and they struggle to remember what year a certain production took place. Also, when one looks at a society's website there is no knowing whether or not the poster promoting the forthcoming production is actually out of date. Often, further investigation… which shouldn’t be necessary… proves that it is. Seems like a simple thing to just add a year, after all it’s only four digits, and will be for some time to come.

Why do so many amateur drama/operatic societies not keep their websites up to date? I digress…

HAPPY NEW YEAR...
to all our reader!

That's me on the left!

Time goes so quickly. One minute your in the prime of life with your whole future ahead of

you, and the next minute… sixty seconds have gone by!

Here's my all-purpose horoscope...

The coming year is likely to present challenges; these trials are when your true character will show. Trusted friends can provide assistance in particularly pressing situations. Make use of the skills you have to compensate for ones you lack. Your reputation in the future depends on your honesty and integrity this year. Monetary investments will prove risky; inform yourself as much as possible. On the positive side, your chances of winning the lottery have never been greater!