PSRSilentShowThoughts

These are some thoughts about the Silent Show from Peter.

Current Plans

Here's a checklist of stuff we have to do, roughly in order:

1. Decide what the point of the show is
2. Decide what games to do
3. Decide about directors -- do we have them? if so, who?
4. Woo director(s) into participating
5. Put proposal to Shana
6. Fill out remaining cast
7. Determine rehearsal schedule
8. Obtain rehearsal location
9. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse -- become godlike at simple, clear, slow pantomime
10. Arrange for box office
11. Prepare promotional materials
12. Distribute promotional materials
13. Arrange stage on night of show
14. ??? (I'm sure I've forgotten stuff.)

Shape of Show

I'm toying with the idea of starting with sort of blabbery/gibberish, high-energy games, and steadily working towards an ending that's intense, simple/pure, and utterly silent.

This gets me to thinking about what the point of the show is. I think that silent or non-verbal improv can provide a totally different show. I think psychologically we can get our audience into a completely different mode, perhaps even more engrossed in the show, by divorcing them completely from listening to words. So I think the shape of the show can really facilitate this, by starting our audience out in the familiar territory of language-like gibberish, and then moving them into theatre that gets quieter and quieter, and simpler and simpler.

Of course, the technicalities of doing theatre-sports might make this impossible (see below).

Will we have an intermission?

Lowering the word count

What do we do between skits? What do we do to introduce the concept of a skit? I worry that too much talking here will 'break the spell' that I'm trying to put together (see Shape of Show, above). I think it would be cool if the last few skits were just scenes from nothing.

Will we wrangle a director or two for this show? If so, will they do side coaching as normal?

(Bob) Or just have them direct physically. This is probably really demanding on a director - it could be a good thing and keep to the spirit of the Lab Show

(Peter) Another possibility: use the 'system of noisemakers.' You have (say) a bell, a kazoo, and a small squeeze-horn handy. You use them to handle the basic improv screw-ups -- negativity, not letting the offer stand, not having multiple sides to a character. This could even be a sketch in and of itself, since the audience would want to see if the director was up to the task of directing a scene non-verbally.

What's special about this show?

We should never do a Lab Show that doesn't have a strong reason to exist.

So here's why I think the Silent Show is worth doing:

• Verbiage distances the audience. They can ignore what's going on, and just listen to the words while folding origami swans out of their programs. This show could put a premium on paying close attention to the tiniest physical offer. The connection between the cast and the audience could be phenomenal.
• From a cast perspective, silent scenework is Good For Us. It can kill our over-talk-y habits. It can reduce the needless complexity of our scenes. It can get us to quit thinking about how to phrase things and force us to make strong, clear, and physical offers. And so on and so on and so on...
• For the directors, I strongly suspect that this is going to force some new techniques in side coaching, and will probably exercise 'directing muscles' in a new way. So, I'm not sure how yet, but I think this will give directors a new and rewarding challenge.
• All the philosophical bullshit about ideas becoming dead once they've been put into words? I halfway believe in that shit. I know my brain is a constant chatter of words. Ideas pretty much don't exist if they're not verbalized. I honestly think that situations that quiet down the din of words I have going give me, not necessarily a more valid, but a different way of looking at my whole life. I think a Silent Show, a show that draws the audience in, requiring and rewarding close concentration, can bring an audience to that same state. I think an audience that sees this show (if this show is done well), might find themselves speechless afterwards -- not necessarily overawed by our amazing theatrical talents, but just so divorced, briefly, from their words that it seems like the word-faucet got clogged somewhere, and the whole world seems... simpler.

Some general notes on setups:

• This show favors solo scenes.
• Keep plots simple.

• Consider the opportunities this gives us to use sound

  • i.e., we could use a soundtrack to set a scene in the trenches of WWI