Another Opening!?

Well, one week down...and already it's time for reflection....to look back on the week that was the opening of The Underpants.

For some of you who may not be familiar with the glitz and glamour that is 'amateur theatre', or even 'community theatre', the rehearsal process can be daunting. Think about it...you rehearse for six or so weeks (if it's a play) or 3 or so months (if it's a musical) in the back of a scout hall or an abandoned church or even, God forbid, a theatre...with often just the other cast members and a director looking on as you act like a goon...in a dress.

Sure...there were laughs early on from the people involved...there may even be a few remaining chuckles...more reserved, warm...possibly polite...earnt from six weeks of speaking like Hyacinth Bucket imitating Mrs Doubtfire ripping off Eddie (Emily) Howard 'I'm a Lady' from Little Britain...and, of course, wearing a dress and a flaming red 'Lucille Ball' wig.

But that's part of the trouble...it's so insular...you appreciate each other's performance because you've seen it develop over the six weeks. You've seen people grow and nuance their character to perfection or work out a bit of business that is solid gold...champagne comedy. But you've seen it from the beginning...you've seen what it was...it's had the time to grow in the safe, warm, cosy cocoon that is the rehearsal process...filled with shared laughter, in-jokes, and an honest desire to see each other succeed in the best possible way. It's juicy with positivity.

But, to paraphrase a line from another show is it better living it than looking at it?

So that's where the audience comes into the equation...particularly the opening night or preview audience. Sure an audience wants to have a good time...but they're also paying for the privilege...so they may also be more discerning, more critical...suddenly something in the show that you've been pissing yourself with laughter about falls like lead balloon...there are pauses for laughter that never arrive...nerves catch up with you and suddenly you're racing through your dialogue, garbling every word you can and ruining the end of sentences...cues are missed...entrances are delayed...silences the size of my padded bra start emerging and you stare blankly at the other performer on stage staring blankly at you and you both realise you have no idea who's line is it anyway and no idea how the f**k you are going to get out of it...props are forgotten...doors fall apart...lollies are eaten...and it's not even interval...

An audience has the power to change a show that's running like a well-oiled machine to a big hot mess...that's suddenly very oily.

So the reaction from that opening night crowd really is important...it gives the cast and director an opportunity to hear the dialogue in a space that is no longer a vacuum...hearing people laugh gives us confidence that we are actually performing a comedy...the attentiveness of the audience, the 'oohs' and 'ahhs' and what not show that the actors are doing something that people are actually following and getting drawn into, and that it's not, to put it bluntly, a turd.

Turds can come in many shapes and sizes. They can be a person on stage...that no matter how hard they and others try...they are just a turd. Shows themselves can be turds. Flaming turds. And if the truth be known...you can't polish a turd. However, I am a firm believer that a person can shine in sh*t. So...basically...it all comes down to faeces of some form or another.

Anyway, that opening night audience can be crucial...if they don't laugh at all and it's supposed to be a comedy...you're f*cked...if they laugh throughout and it's a drama...you're f*cked...so there's a fine line of fornication here.

And so it came to the preview audience last Thursday for The Underpants...I don't think I really knew what to expect from the whole shebang...it was clearly a comedy...but how much of a comedy...an amused smile comedy? A slight chuckle to yourself comedy? A laugh to your friend on your left comedy? Or a laugh out loud 'I don't care who hears me' comedy?

And...apparently...it's all of the above. Reacti0ns ranged from barely a twitter (or a tweet) all the way to stopping the show for a good solid three or four seconds so the audience can stop apparently wetting themselves...and, I think...as a cast we're all bloody happy with that...

At least we're not faeces.