Guest Blog: Artistic Director Kerry Frampton on Clowning and Valuing The Audience in ROUGH MAGIC at Shakespeare's Globe

In our new production Rough Magic, there’s a terrifying tentacular creature that lives under the stage. But as part of every performance there’s an even bigger monster present; one that’s even more terrifying and multi-limbed… the AUDIENCE!

Like most terrifying monsters, audiences actually turn out to be very friendly, energetic and helpful as long as you feed them the right things. With our company, Splendid Productions, we have been finding good things to feed to our audiences for the last twenty years. Here’s a sneaky glimpse of our recipe for a happy audience:
 
1.       Don’t pretend they aren’t there! We describe our style of theatre as ‘anti-fourth wall’. (‘Fourth wall’ is a phrase that describes the imaginary boundary between the actors on stage in naturalistic theatre and the audience that is ‘secretly’ watching them. We don’t think there is such a thing as a ‘fourth wall’ in theatre. We’ve certainly never seen one.) 

We like to acknowledge and welcome the audience; we like to see them and talk to them, and sometimes we give them a role to play within the story we’re telling. In ‘Rough Magic’, the audience are all supernatural creatures from the worlds of Shakespeare’s plays – witches, ghosts, spirits and fairies – who have all come to attend a magical ceremony. As they arrive the audience are met by our cast (who are already in character as witches and fairies just like them), and so right from the beginning they are warmly invited to be a part of the play.

2.       Take them with you! A lot of our experience comes from touring theatre into schools, where we perform in a wide range of non-theatre spaces like sports halls or canteens. We soon discovered that the lack of fancy theatre things like stage lights and curtains was a real advantage in connecting with the audience. They can see us and we can see them.  We work ‘with’ an audience rather than performing ‘at’ them which is working more as a dialogue than a monologue happening to them.

Funnily enough, this is exactly how theatre was in Shakespeare’s time, and his plays were written to be played in daylight, on a thrust stage surrounded by a visible, noisy audience. And although Rough Magic is taking place in the Globe’s glorious indoor space, the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, we keep the lights on and enjoy the unique experience having the audience an arms’ length away on all sides.

3.       Warm and Generous! We often say to our actors ‘the audience feel what you feel’. This is one of the great powers actors have. If you approach audience-work as if you are trying to tame a horrible monster, it’s not surprising if you get your head bitten off. Our performance style is very influenced by the art of clowning, and two helpful clowning techniques we recommend are: ‘happy high status’ (you are fully confident that the audience will help you, you’re not needy or bullying), and ‘tune into the room’ (matching your own energy to the audience’s. If you meet them where they are, it’s easier to take them with you.)

4.       Whatever the audience does is exactly right! We love asking the audience to help us tell our stories. But to achieve this we have to earn the audience’s trust. This means: be clear when you’re telling them what you want them do to. Don’t trick them even if you are the baddie, and never be disappointed – audiences love to succeed, so make sure that whatever happens, they can’t fail.

Read our review of Rough Magic here.

Rough Magic runs at Shakespeare’s Globe, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse until 24 August 

Production Photo Credits: Manuel Harlan

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