Just after starting the world’s first absurdist, hit-man comedy in a Greer garage, a fierce summer storm cracked wide open. And it railed against us (re: Matthew 4:35-40) from two pages in until the curtain called.In between, we stopped, closed the garage door (don’t tell the fire marshall), and rebooted the play. Our stage manager Susan, posted outside, was soaked to the bone.
Performance, for actors, is all about focus. Our props are set. We know our characters. Lines and blocking are locked. When we let you into the room, it’s all about execution.
One lightning flash and thunderclap tends to make you waver a bit.
John, Susan, and I battled through the external elements admirably, I think. Though the result wasn’t exactly...THE DUMB WAITER.
Like Harold Pinter’s famously trapped characters, we locked our jaws and fought hard to stay rooted to the spot.
Damn, Chris. You deserve better than this. Reminds me of my touring children's theater days. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteI too toured with a Pinter children's theatre company in a past life. I remember us thinking that "The Birthday Party" would go over like gangbusters (what kid wouldn't like comedy of menace?). Jeepers creepers, were WE wrong! We'd hardly made it through Act I before our audience began to leave in droves...FOR CHUCKIE CHEESE, NO LESS!
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