After Cabaret Summer School 2013, we are offered the opportunity to perform our pieces again in the Out of the Square program.
This offer comes while I am holidaying in Spain. The series spans a two-week period, and because I'm expecting to feel pretty tired after I get home, I put my name down for three shows in the second week.
In Barcelona I come across a music shop with guitars in the window. Suddenly I have an idea. I venture into the store, and in my best Spanish ask if they have any Brazilian percussion instruments. I worry a little about being politically incorrect, because in Barcelona they actually speak Catalan. You don't really get points for trying to speak Spanish; you may as well speak in French or German, because it's not their language. But the man behind the counter doesn't seem to be offended. He leads me through the shop to a back room, where he unlocks a glass cabinet. He draws out a variety of instruments that shake, rattle and roll. I select a little drum that you shake from side to side, a bracelet that rattles, a bamboo stick with seed pods and a wooden sleigh-bell rattle.
I know that Australian Customs is very strict, but these items are quite inexpensive, and I'm willing to take the risk. But as the trip goes on, I start to feel attached to my instruments and I can't bear the thought of them being taken from me.
Arriving in Sydney, I hold my breath as I hand over my treasures to the Customs officer. He takes them away and I resign myself to losing them. After a few minutes he returns. He holds up the little drum. "This one is made of raw-hide. We can treat it for $70 if you like". I look at my husband and he reminds me that the drum cost much less than that. I let it go, and scoop up the rest of my haul. They are mine! Amazingly, I get to keep three of the four instruments.
Back home, I perform my piece "Sex and the City" at three regional theatres.
At the first one, an audience member accosts me as I am leaving the theatre; he wants to discuss the history of Bossa Nova.
Prior to the second performance, a nurse works her way along the front row of the audience, dispensing tablets to people from a local nursing home.
Twenty minutes before the third show, Matthew informs us that 90 percent of the audience are 12 years old; the organizers had trouble filling the theatre, and invited students from a local school to attend. Wow. It's a cabaret show. It's not really intended for school kids. My heart sinks - they are conscripts; they are forced to be here. We all need to assess what we are about to present. Is it child-friendly? Yet we should not talk down to these young people - they are old enough to have some idea about adult concepts. Maybe we should pitch it to a level that their teachers might think appropriate? In fact, the school children are extremely attentive and respectful. Matthew does a great job of engaging them between segments, and adds a Question Time at the end. They ask insightful questions, and one of them turns out to be related to a cabaret performer whom we all know.
The varied audiences provide excellent practice in being flexible and adaptable. You can't simply memorize your patter and head out onto the stage. It does require some awareness of who is in the audience; you must try to connect with them.
I also learn the importance of being ready. A performer is unable to attend one of the shows, and Matthew invites a visiting English cabaret star, Tim, to perform in her place. Tim performs his segment early in the show. When it's my turn, I'm standing in the wings, but Tim is there too. Matthew calls him instead of me. Assuming that he is doing a second ten-minute piece, I go back downstairs to the dressing room. Suddenly Matthew is announcing me. Tim has finished, without singing any songs - I have no idea why he was on stage, but now he's off, and I'm meant to be there. I run upstairs and around the back of the stage, and arrive at the microphone a bit breathless. I mess up the start of my first song and have to start again. It's OK - I do it in a conversational way, and the audience is pretty forgiving. But as a result, I've learned to be prepared and ready for anything.
Overall, the "Out of the Square" series provides valuable experience and an opportunity to experiment with a variety of approaches.
And now, it's time to expand my segment into a full-length show for the Cabaret Fringe.
This offer comes while I am holidaying in Spain. The series spans a two-week period, and because I'm expecting to feel pretty tired after I get home, I put my name down for three shows in the second week.
In Barcelona I come across a music shop with guitars in the window. Suddenly I have an idea. I venture into the store, and in my best Spanish ask if they have any Brazilian percussion instruments. I worry a little about being politically incorrect, because in Barcelona they actually speak Catalan. You don't really get points for trying to speak Spanish; you may as well speak in French or German, because it's not their language. But the man behind the counter doesn't seem to be offended. He leads me through the shop to a back room, where he unlocks a glass cabinet. He draws out a variety of instruments that shake, rattle and roll. I select a little drum that you shake from side to side, a bracelet that rattles, a bamboo stick with seed pods and a wooden sleigh-bell rattle.
I know that Australian Customs is very strict, but these items are quite inexpensive, and I'm willing to take the risk. But as the trip goes on, I start to feel attached to my instruments and I can't bear the thought of them being taken from me.
Arriving in Sydney, I hold my breath as I hand over my treasures to the Customs officer. He takes them away and I resign myself to losing them. After a few minutes he returns. He holds up the little drum. "This one is made of raw-hide. We can treat it for $70 if you like". I look at my husband and he reminds me that the drum cost much less than that. I let it go, and scoop up the rest of my haul. They are mine! Amazingly, I get to keep three of the four instruments.
Back home, I perform my piece "Sex and the City" at three regional theatres.
At the first one, an audience member accosts me as I am leaving the theatre; he wants to discuss the history of Bossa Nova.
Prior to the second performance, a nurse works her way along the front row of the audience, dispensing tablets to people from a local nursing home.
Twenty minutes before the third show, Matthew informs us that 90 percent of the audience are 12 years old; the organizers had trouble filling the theatre, and invited students from a local school to attend. Wow. It's a cabaret show. It's not really intended for school kids. My heart sinks - they are conscripts; they are forced to be here. We all need to assess what we are about to present. Is it child-friendly? Yet we should not talk down to these young people - they are old enough to have some idea about adult concepts. Maybe we should pitch it to a level that their teachers might think appropriate? In fact, the school children are extremely attentive and respectful. Matthew does a great job of engaging them between segments, and adds a Question Time at the end. They ask insightful questions, and one of them turns out to be related to a cabaret performer whom we all know.
The varied audiences provide excellent practice in being flexible and adaptable. You can't simply memorize your patter and head out onto the stage. It does require some awareness of who is in the audience; you must try to connect with them.
I also learn the importance of being ready. A performer is unable to attend one of the shows, and Matthew invites a visiting English cabaret star, Tim, to perform in her place. Tim performs his segment early in the show. When it's my turn, I'm standing in the wings, but Tim is there too. Matthew calls him instead of me. Assuming that he is doing a second ten-minute piece, I go back downstairs to the dressing room. Suddenly Matthew is announcing me. Tim has finished, without singing any songs - I have no idea why he was on stage, but now he's off, and I'm meant to be there. I run upstairs and around the back of the stage, and arrive at the microphone a bit breathless. I mess up the start of my first song and have to start again. It's OK - I do it in a conversational way, and the audience is pretty forgiving. But as a result, I've learned to be prepared and ready for anything.
Overall, the "Out of the Square" series provides valuable experience and an opportunity to experiment with a variety of approaches.
And now, it's time to expand my segment into a full-length show for the Cabaret Fringe.
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