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.