Crucible performances: student audiences
With The Crucible we are in a unusual situation regarding performances. Our first three public performances were morning shows for high school audiences. Through Humanities Outreach of Tennessee (H.O.T.), high schools are brought in to see various performances throughout the year. In fact, H.O.T. monies allowed us to do a large cast show like The Crucible. What you may not realize is that high school audiences are only marginally related to adult audiences. For the H.O.T. performances, we have upwards of 900 high schoolers packed into the theatre; their behavior is never predictable; they can be inappropriate and loud, but the energy they give off is intense to say the least!
I was curious to see how they would react to a play that premiered before their parents were born—a play that clocks in at 2 1/2 hours and deals with some quite complex issues like honor, fear, manipulation, authority, intolerance, and infidelity. I was concerned that at least some of them wouldn’t be willing to stick with the play until the end or give the focus needed to appreciate a complex work of theatre. It turns out that, for the vast majority of them, I needn’t have worried.
Yes, some of their reactions have been what could be called “inappropriate” (cheering when Proctor calls Abigail a whore and throws her to the floor; laughing at Mary Warren’s collapse in the face of her friend’s spiritual attack), but an inappropriate reaction is still a reaction—a sign that they’re paying attention and involved in the story. They have never checked out on the play (a sign of a well-paced, well-directed play, in my opinion), and they are amazingly generous in their reactions. In fact, I was astonished at how they picked up on even the more subtle critical moments in the play. When Proctor has confessed to his infidelity with Abigail and Elizabeth is brought in and asked by the judge if her husband strayed from her, Danforth hounds her to answer the question “Is your husband a lecher?” Finally, she answers and her unexpected (and out-of-character) answer has drawn gasps from our high school audiences. When Proctor is faced with his defining moment in the final scene in which he has decided to whether to sacrifice honor or life, the high schoolers have cheered and broken into applause at his decision. And they’ve caught on to even more subtle nuances in the script—such as Proctor’s joke about Reverend Parris’ love for golden candlesticks that was set up by an off-handed comment in an earlier scene.
Yes, there are allowances that the actors must make when performing for a high school audience. The pace and energy must remain high throughout. You can let them have their large reactions (even the “inappropriate” ones), but you can’t let it go on too long. For, if you let them, they will take over and drive the bus (and possibly crash it!). There will be much more chatter than you would expect from an adult audience and sometimes you just have to accept it and keep going. But when the high school students are keyed in, the energy they give can spoil you when you finally get a “normal” adult audience.
In fact, click here to check out some of the remarkable insights high schoolers had after seeing The Crucible.
No Comments
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
