CHORUS LINES

In his hilarious and indispensable book, ‘The Art of Coarse Acting’, in Chapter 4, ‘A Coarse Actor Performs’, Michael Green offers some advice to help the coarse actor get noticed when he or she enters in a crowd, and even steal a scene when they haven’t any words to say. I remember seeing him present his talk on coarse acting, and with the help of some shawls, stout sticks and staffs, he quickly created a coarse crowd from volunteer members of the audience. Very funny… in the right context.

More and more, since I started writing pantomimes, I have tried to ensure that the chorus, as I generally call them, have some worthwhile lines, and significant involvement in the action. In my scripts I list ‘CHORUS #1,#2,#3, & #4’ against the lines, but state in the Production Notes, “Whilst the lines in the script are allocated to just 4 chorus members, they can be shared out as you wish, to more or less… depending on your preference, and the talents of your company.”

During my recent efforts to inform amateur drama and musical theatre groups about my latest script… ‘Sleeping Beauty’… I have visited quite a few of their websites, and seen a good number of photographs from their pantomime productions old and new. What is often very noticeable is the chorus, standing around like the stolid spectators on the ‘Antiques Roadshow’. Even worse is where they are talking to each other at the back of the stage, whilst the principals are acting their knickers off at the front.

I am not apportioning all the blame to those valuable people, the members of the chorus. Maybe they have never been told what to do, or perhaps there has been an instruction to “Just act naturally”. Well… acting ain’t natural, and a director should know it, and guide the chorus where necessary. Of course, the script may not help, and that is why I am trying my best to provide worthwhile involvement for the ‘extras’.

I remember seeing a video of a pantomime produced somewhere in Scotland, where the stage was absolutely jam-packed with extras, in a scene reminiscent of the opening day of a New Year sale at an Oxford Street store. There were even youngsters sat on steps at each side of the stage, from where they couldn’t possibly involve themselves in the action. The answer to this must surely be that the number on stage has to be limited, but offset the reduced number of appearances with worthwhile participation. Again, the script can help.