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Keeping a straight face
Hi guys. It's been a while since I've posted; I've been so busy with school. Anyways, I wanted to ask some of you experianced adult buskers a question.How you you guys stay in character when confronted with a heckler?I'm an extreme newbie, and I've only done a few shows with my mom and a few others.Everytime I see a professional street performer,they always think of something witty to say or do while keeping in character, even if something totally unexpected happens.How do you keep in character?
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It might be helpful to remember an important point, hecklers just want to play but they don't know the rules.
They want to be where you are already
(the center of attention)
You stay in character by remembering this and dealing with it.
you can be anything between nice and nasty but the fact remains you have to loose it before they can take it away from you.
recognise them but bear in mind you have a show and your not an audience member. -
Absolutely true, and that's where the fun comes in!<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by martin ewen:
It might be helpful to remember an important point, hecklers just want to play but they don't know the rules.
You get to manipulate the situation because you do know the rules and they do not. Like Martin suggests, as long as you remain the one in control, the audience, as a whole, will remain with you.
If you have trouble keeping character in a certain situation, then I would suggest that it is an acting problem. But, if you are like me, a fundamentally poor actor, you may have to rely on some other devices. Street shows can still be very successful without any "acting" or any other theater jargon applied to them. If you can be honest with the situation, and play it based on that honesty, something entertaining may very well come out of it in the end. So, to use your example, if a heckler challenges you, and feel that you can't keep a straight face, either because of their remark or because of your comeback, play off of that and tie that back into your response to the heckling.
Once in a while the heckler will actually have a really funny remark. Ignoring it won't change that fact, so it may very well be best if you laugh along with the rest of the crowd. Now, in this situation, you will need to make sure that you get the audience back on your side by topping the heckler (several times over.) Remember that everyone has one or two good jokes, and they are usually quite funny, but most hecklers run out of ammunition very quickly! In some ways it’s like being in an argument with your spouse: it doesn’t matter what was said during the fight, the only important thing is who got in the last word.
As long as you are the one making the rules, and subsequently breaking them, you will remain the center of attention.
Most street acts love good hecklers. Drunks and bums aren’t much of a challenge, but fun loving folk who get so excited about seeing the show that mere applause won’t suffice should be considered golden ($$$) opportunities.
When I’m in the middle of a show, and “in the zone,” doing whatever inane routine I’m doing at the time, and someone throws out a good line, the entire dynamic of the performance changes. I get this great feeling that everything that I had planned for the rest of the show instantly gets thrown out and I shift into the moment. It’s this wonderful realization that I have just been handed the opportunity to make this performance a memorable one. The juggling is great, but what the audience really wants to see is me excel and to become superhuman. They don’t care what I am doing, they just want to see someone step up and, in a sense, become heroic.
Steven Ragatz
“I stopped as the heckler and I regarded each other. I don’t remember if anyone else was there, as the rest of the audience melted away into the mist. It’s just him and me, face-to-face, wit-to-wit. There was that wonderful moment of peace, a quiet calm before the storm. A tumbleweed blew across the stage. Far off in the distance, a dog barked. Bark… bark…”
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Most street performers have set things to say in a lot of situations.
Though it may seem that something was unpredicable, it is very likely that something near that situation has happened before. If you're leading hecklers, you can get them to say certain things.
If your character is not yourself, you should be a good actor. Otherwise, the audience will know and you won't be heckled by anyone with a sober half a brain. They won't care enough about you. If the character comes from the true you, there will be no problem.
There are people that laugh a lot, a little, and not at all. You don't have to not laugh to be entertaining or funny.
Laughing can show a vulnerability (letting out emotions in public does) which the audience may be attracted to if it seems sincere.
scot
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Thanks soooo much, you guys are really helpful!
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