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Because theatre is an immediate feedback medium, when you bomb, the audience reaction (or lack of it) hangs over you as soon as you step off the stage. And so, you often do anything to ensure the crickets don’t chirp for you.
The audience’s laughter, tears, and ovations are the gold we mine for. And we have to be clever to get them. We walk a tight rope.
You see, I run and direct a small theatre company in Nairobi, Kenya known as Savannah Arts Theatre. We stage plays adapted from curriculum-mandated texts otherwise known as set books. As such, our main audience is school kids, a tough audience because while we have to make them laugh, we cannot get too carried away.
For many students, our shows are the only way that they interact with the texts. They don’t like reading the books.
So, we have to strike a balance between being educative and fun.
Too many times, far more than is necessary, we have made the mistake of taking ourselves too seriously, overcompensating to the wrong side. Our thought process was that because the students rely on us, we have to stick rigidly to the written texts. No deviations, additions, or adlibs.
The show would then become a snooze fest, and the crickets would cheer for us.
So, we learned. We learned to bend the rules a little. To let the show breathe. To incorporate some life, comedy, and art to it.
And what do you know? The students become more attentive, and they retain more of the content in the text. We enlighten, enliven, and educate.
And we get more work.
Dancing Animals
Life is not as serious as we make it out to be. Neither are we. I like the idea popularized by David Sedaris and David Todd McCarty that we are dancing animals. We have been called to dance through life. To take every breath and cherish it. But only for a second because if you try to hold it in, it suffocates you.
The Line
You have to toe the line between being too restrictive and too loose.
Life is random, chaotic, and messy. We cannot control it. All we can do is enjoy it and try to maximize the utility we get out of it. Most of everything that we do and touch is ephemeral and does not last as much as we would like it to.
It’s all for shits and giggles. We live not to be successful or to attain some external validation but to live. And dance. And laugh.
If the world is a stage and we are all performers, then life is a comedy. It’s too tragic to be anything else.
So, you cannot take yourself or anyone else too seriously. Joke and dance with us. Make fart jokes and laugh as we while away the time.
The Serious Business of Survival
This does not mean that you should always play the jester.
Survival is the serious business of life. You have to put food in your belly, clothes on your back, and the lights must remain on. There is no other way. You have to pull your weight and leave behind something for the next generation.
You must make your life count for something.
But, and here’s the paradox, the way to do that is not to be too strict and serious. It is to find that sweet balance and err on the side of fun.
No one cares
Everything seems serious until you really dissect it. For example, writing is serious business that requires you to keenly observe the world, examine yourself, and present your findings to a cold audience. Sometimes to none.
But for all the truth you uncover, none is more important than the idea that no one cares. We don’t care about you, your insights, or your style. And if that discourages you, then this path is not for you. It is for those who accept it but still continue to write for the sake of writing. For shits and giggles.
And what do you know? The audience becomes more receptive and retains more of your insights.
Too firm a grip and you choke us to death; too loose and we walk away.
We want to dance. So, join us. Because life is too tragic to find it anything but funny.
What’s that? You want me to end this using a fart joke?
Pfft.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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Photo credit: Andrew Liu on Unsplash
