Acting vs. Street Performing

[checkerhead]

I got that same email from Brett a couple of weeks ago and the question has been doing back flips somewhere in the deepest reaches of my brain ever since... A lot of really useful information has been posted here... Some a wee bit off topic, but still related... Here again is the question -

"I'm studying theatre right now and I was just curios as to why someone who is obviously so intensely focused on acting as you seem to be would be doing street theatre?"
--Taylor Mathews

Robert astutely pointed out that the techniques used by an actor on stage are indeed very similar to those used by a performer in a street setting. The motivation may be different, but the techniques very similar. It comes down to what’s motivating for the performance...

Money seems to be a popular reoccurring theme in the discussion, and certainly a good street show is structured to get money out of people’s pockets at the end of the show... Street Performers use tricks and/or gimmicks to hype the crowd for the purpose of collecting cash...and hey...what a great motivator! A professional stage actor’s motivation in performance has the freedom to be much more emotionally based and story driven as the money is usually not in question. The motivation thus determines the action, but the techniques used are certainly related.

Martin’s claim that there the street and the stage are amorphus may in some regards be true. The two art forms are very different beasts, and just because you’re a good Street Performer or Actor doesn’t mean you’ll be able to make the transition between art forms, but this I think has more to do with the fact that individuals may end up focusing too much on the motivation of their known art form with out allowing their technique to be swayed by a different set motivating factors...

Again back to Robert’s original post -

The basics of strong stage presence is the development of good acting techniques. These (techniques) would necessarily be thinking, feeling, speaking and moving in character.

Allowing yourself to change your motivation will produce a strong shift in character. This isn’t something people are necessarily comfortable with, thus they stick with what they know and never bridge the gap between the two art forms...

All this to put what’s already been said into some sort of perspective.

To it I’d also like to add the following...

I had a great Theatre History Prof. in University... I really enjoyed the way he took what we thought we knew and then made us rethink it a bit... The year started with the question...where did theatre come from... There were various interesting responses from the class following which he introduced this question... Why do we call a piece of theatre a “Play”... Take a look in a dictionary and you’ll find a long list of meanings. For the purposes of this conversation I think it’s interesting that a Street Performer going out with a bag of gimmicks or tricks, is going out to “Play”, and a Stage Actor goes into a theatre with his technique to “Play” a role in a story... The two really aren’t that far apart I don’t think...it’s just a matter of getting your head around what is motivating the Playing in each venue.

Venue... I remember talking with a veteran Street Performer early on in my career and saying that I might use Street Performing as a stepping stone to other kinds of work...perhaps TV, perhaps Theatre, Perhaps Film... At the time I really didn’t know what I wanted to do (still don’t really). My mentor stopped me in my tracks and forced me to rethink what I had just said... The Street he argued was just as legitimate a venue as a stage, a TV screen or a movie theatre. If I was using it as a stepping stone to other things I wasn’t necessarily giving the Street Venue the respect it deserved. Each of the above venues comes with it’s own set of challenges, it’s own hurdles and it’s own rewards, but not giving the proper respect to the venue itself is doing yourself and your audience a huge disservice. Street Performers may not always be given the same respect that Actors in other venues receive, but I feel that part of it may be as a result of Street Performers not always treating the Venue with the respect it deserves...

Street Performance may not have as trackable a history as Stage Acting, but the two have co-existed for as long as history has been recorded... As a Street Performer, whether you are just starting out or a seasoned veteran, you belong to a long long tradition of people who were able to take their “Play” to where the people were as opposed to getting people to come to you. I think that taking the show to the people has a richness and a resonance that an indoor venue, a tv set or a sound stage never could. You are performing for a cross section of humanity and as a result you are forced to be that much more in tune with humanity to get your show to work. It’s perhaps for this reason that I still enjoy the Street much more than any other venue that I’ve been exposed to... It’s not for everyone, but those who like it...like it a lot!

[Adam Gertsacov]

Excellent discussion here-- wanted to jump into the fray.

I would say that the vast majority of street acts are <B> SKILL BASED</B> Juggler, Mime, acrobat, magician, equilibrist, etc. -- the typical street acts are about displaying your skill. Your character and method of presentation are of course important, and are the diff between a big hat and a small hat, but that's not what the people are paying to see. They are there to see you do something amazing (and preferably within 10 minutes of watching you)

The actor on the street (agit/prop, outdoor stuff, etc.) is trying to create a fictive reality where he is not a guy who is entertaining people, but is some other person-- the king of Denmark, the Scottish Thane, etc.. The show is about a story, and not about a skill. It's hard to pull off a long play, because the distractions are great, and unless the story telling is riveting, it's pretty damn easy to move on.

The clown, I would say is in between the actor and the skilled performer. He's not skill based (usually) or story based, but character based. The skill of the clown is in the interaction with the audience. And his ability/skill to get the audience riled up about something that he can barely do...

Naturally, all shows are not pure 1 or pure the other. They are a mix of all three, in various degrees, depending on the skills and interests that each performer has an actor, clown, or skills guy.

[Blake]

I did an Impro workshop with Kieth Johnstone last year in Calgary and we had an excercise that went like this.

All members of the class are the audience they are instructed to leave the room when the feel you have lost their attention.
You then step into the room and attempt to do something to hold their interest.
This excercise teaches a number of things and is extremely challenging and much like the street.

Basically the premise of the excercise is that the audience will continue to watch as long as the performer continues to take the story into the future with confidence. As soon as they sense a lack of confidence or that the story is no longer moving forward they will give you a couple of minutes to see what will happen and then will walk away.

I suppose what im saying is to do with what people are paying to see. I have heard this debated a lot and i am unconvinced as to what people actually pay for. I think it has something to do with energy focus and confidence as well as a solid structure.Maybe the fact that they wish they could be out there doing what we do. And sometimes i know its because a little old lady thinks i've been in the sun for too long.

Neway just my thoughts thanks for this thought provoking discussion
bb

[This message has been edited by Blake (edited 12-28-2000).]

[Brett Copes]

Brett here.
I Could've responded to Taylors original question alone, but I am much more excited about the imput from you. Thank you all.
Taylor obvoiusly looked at my acting resume on my website, which more than likely sparked the question.
I spend 6 years in College, being trained as a classical actor, and several smaller schools around the US working with profesionals in the buisness to further my acting skills and market ability. (even meeting Street Performer Peter Sosna along the way).
Rather than get lengthy about my treck from ACTING 1 class into Interactive theatre (street performing), I'll use some words of another that have stuck with me along the way.

I once asked fellow Performer David Deangelis, who has a simlar College Acting experience,about performing his show:
"David, what about all that classical acting training...?"
he replied simply ( in regards to his show)
"I use all of it, every day."

I could write at length the benifits, just in my acting, that being a street performer has done for me.
Doubled my Confidence.
Solidified my Character abilitys,
taught me comedy the hard way,
TO LISTEN TO THE AUDIENCE
and
I have always said, after my first professional-Union Play the most actors are trained in a vaccuume, and once what you eat, where you sleep, and your entire income depends on your performance ability..you learn very quickly what in your training was crap,and what is truely important to the audience and the buisness.
Street Theatre and Professional acting both taught me that.

and Blah , Balah, Blah..about the money, travel, friends and other jobs it has gotten me.

Brett Copes
Whipboy-Big Giant Dork Show
www.commidiots.com

[Daniel Forlano]

On the Boundaries Between Street and Stage

Perhaps a more clear question is What are the boundaries between performing/acting on stage and performing/acting on the street.

Two vey diferent disciplines linked by a fundamental similarity.

[Bare with me, this is long.]

An actor on stage is given the benefit of the doubt by an audience who arrives to follow the actor through the story s/he tells. The date is predetermined and the public come to see the actor. The story departs from any moment in time, abstract or present. The fundamental medium of performance, i.e., Time and Space, change at any moment depending on the actor. As an audience member we give the actor permission to do so.

For the street performer, getting the public to watch the show becomes part of the story, setting up the plot is part of the story, and all the little interuptions are part of the story. If not, we try hard to write them into the story, cover them with a line or action or try to avoid having them happen again. For the public, the exact beginning and ending of the show is undetermined. The story told is the story of our interaction in real time with eachother. During the performance we set the time and space, enter it and leave it behind. (Example: a one-liner pulls you in, makes a point and lets you go.) Even if the street performer achieves altering our sense of Time and Space we are easily reminded of being on a public street. (Example: moving in "slow motion" is funny partly due to it's contrast with usual motion.) The subject of street performance is the creation of a performance in the present. A street show cannot begin "in the middle".

But the boudaries between stage and street performance are also blurry. Street performers act. A street performer who writes a drop line into their show is acting. The time and space for the drop to occur is set up; it is a script to be delivered. At the same time, a stage performance can be in real time, drawing you in and spitting you out as do Penn and Teller. P&T need a stage to produce some effects but their delivery could, I think, work on the street. They draw you in to a story, deliver, and let you go.

Most of my practical performance experience is on the street. When I performed my stage monologue "In Stitches" something happened I didn't expect: I couldn't see the audience so I was performing almost as if I were alone. If there was any contact between me and the audience I did not know. But when the first laugh came I became aware of the audience as in a street show. Suddenly, the entire space changed. I had connected. In that moment I could have been doing my street show. I was suddenly aware of the emotional state of my audience – I could sense them. I knew the audience was with me because I had formed an emotional conversation with them. I was leading them through my text but we were conversing with our emotion. The text was timeless; the emotion present. I think this sense of unity represents success on stage and success on the street. It is the success of communication. And I think communication, within oneself as with others, is the ultimate gaol of performance.

Knowing street helped me immensely on the stage and I know some stage actors who would love to have the experience of street. A stage performer has a lot to learn from the street performer whose virtuosity is knowing his audience and the present. The street performer has a lot to learn from the stage performer who rehearses in a studio, and finds depth and meaning in text. The union of these two disciplines would make for one killer of a performer.

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