Interview: Rebecca Northan gives us the juice on 'Blind Date'

 

Blind Date is a unique theatre experience that began as a ten minute burlesque-clown piece at The Spiegel Show at Harbourfront Centre in 2007. It quickly became a crowd favourite and Rebecca Northan expanded it into a full ninety minute piece, where she has a simulated date with a different audience member each night. In the show, she plays Mimi, a young Parisian woman waiting for a blind date in a café somewhere along the banks of the Seine. When she is stood up, she turns to the audience to find someone brave enough to step in and go on a date with her.

Blind Date's last run in Toronto was completely sold out, with the Toronto Star raving that it was "...a flight of theatrical fancy that is absolutely magical. Four stars out of four." BWW spoke with Rebecca about how she handles this unique piece of theatre, and the challenges that come from performing a piece where you have to give up control over what is going to happen each night:

Blind Date is a 90 minute improv show where you have a simulated date with someone from the audience. What gave you the idea to create the show?

The first part is the date and then we see where the rest of our lives take us. It grew out of a ten minute piece that I was commissioned to create for the Spiegel show which happened at the Harbourfront Center a few years ago. I don't know where the idea came from, it kinda arrived fully formed. I can't really take credit for it. It popped into my head, this ten minute version. And when it was successful I thought about whether I could make it into a full length show.

Do you have specific criteria for picking a "date" each night?

Sure they have to be nice and cute! *laughs* I have a pretty wide palette though I would say.

Do you ask for volunteers then?

No! I mingle with the audience before the show as if we were at a cocktail party, I chat with people. It's really very similar to what you would do at a regular party. You end up thinking to yourself, "wow, that person was really interesting and I would like to get to know them more. There's something there I would like to explore." They don't know they are being chosen until the show starts and I call them up on the stage.

Have you had any bad dates or dates who wouldn't cooperate?

No, I have actually never had one refuse to come up! I think I do a pretty good job of chit chatting before the show and then I get a sense of people who might not want to participate. My goal through the whole show is to make this person have a good time and make them look good. It's not ever about me pulling up someone who doesn't want to play and making them look bad or making jokes at their expense. Never ever would it be about that, it's about being respectful towards this person and getting to know them better. When the show works really well guys go from being nervous off the top to being comfortable and being themselves and the audience falls in love with them. I've seen that happen again and again where by the end of the show the audience is saying "we LOVED that guy" - because he really becomes the hero.

Speaking of the audience loving one of your "dates", I read somewhere that one of the guys you had on stage was actually approached via an online network by someone in the audience for a real date. Did that really happen?

Craigslist! Yep, he emailed me a few weeks later and told me that there was a posting that said "I saw you at the show and you were amazing and I'd like to have coffee with you" so he got a real date out of it. Because ultimately, if a guy comes up on stage with me and he's willing to show himself for what he truly is, it's infinitely fascinating and I feel very very privileged whenever I do the show.

I have heard your show described as "daring" many times, what is it about it that makes it daring?

It's terrifying! It is terrifying for me as a performer, because though I have a structure, I have no idea how that person is going to react and whether or not they are going to be playful. So the feeling often becomes one of "well, this might be what it feels like to be on a real blind date. " So basically you go with the best hopes! Things like hoping for good chemistry, hoping it goes well, hoping he has a good time and that we like each other. When I describe the show to other performers it makes them really nervous because I'm performing a show in front of an audience in which anything could go wrong at any time. Hopefully it doesn't, but who knows, it could happen. And I think the audience appreciates that, that they are getting to watch people get to know each other in real time. You never know how someone who is nervous is going to react to a situation - it could go really poorly.

So essentially you are performing something where you have to give up most of your personal control. Are there any parts of the show that are specifically scripted?

There is a structure. There is nothing scripted, but I do have a structure. We will meet in a café and get to know each other a bit. I might invite him back to my place but beyond that, who knows what will happen. One night we ended the show in Maui because the audience member made a comment to someone who works with the show - he said "she doesn't know but I bought us plane tickets to Maui." That's never in my structure but hey, he made an offer so that's what we are going to do, so we ended the show in Maui!

What was your most memorable blind date?

There are so many, that's what is really fascinating about the show. The fact that EVERY guy has a moment in the show that makes the audience really go WOW. One that I often talk about is from a show in Calgary. He kept trying to leave and when I finally pushed him to tell me why he wanted to leave, he told me that he wasn't having a bad time, he just didn't think he was very interesting. And then the audience kinda went "aww". And so I asked the audience, "how many people are bored right now?" and 200 people sat silent. I then asked how many found my date totally fascinating, and the audience went crazy. So I asked him to stay. And it was that moment of showing him that he wasn't boring. And that no one is boring. That is one of the beautiful side effects of the show - saying to someone over and over again that everything about them is totally fascinating. And acknowledging at the end of the show how brave the guy(s) are. They are so brave and are doing something remarkable.

You aren't single yourself, but I'm sure you can relate to how terrifying a regular blind date can be. Has this show helped you gain any insight into how to deal with the pressures that come along with a blind date?

Absolutely. The thing that I've learned is just what I've said. You, yourself, with no embellishments are totally fascinating, and there is something to love about you. I fall in love with every guy who comes up on stage. There is no difficulty at all for me to find at least one thing that makes me fall in love with them. It's when they stop trying to impress, it's when they just admit to being themselves and being nervous and start showing true things about themselves. You can feel the audience lean in towards them and be fascinated by them. That's where the magic is.

When and Where?
Rebecca Northan in Blind Date
Harbourfront Centre's York Quay Centre, 235 Queens Quay West, Toronto, ON

Performance Schedule:

February 23rd-27th, March 2nd - 6th
All shows at 8PM with doors at 7PM

Tickets are $30 and can be purchased in person at the box office, by phone at 416-973-4000 or at www.harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage

For more information, please visit the website at http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage0809/blind.cfm

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