Author Topic: SHOWS: How to deal with walkouts  (Read 4133 times)

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missliz

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SHOWS: How to deal with walkouts
« on: Oct 18, 2010, 01:38 pm »
So our current show is pretty racy compared to the typical season. (Implied drug use, brief nudity, simulated sex.) It's been advertised as such with all the appropriate warnings. Despite this, we have consistently gotten walkouts at every Sunday matinee (our typical older crowd) We had 6 last Sunday, and in a house of 70 it's pretty clear to the actors. I know that it's due to content, not boredom- my ASM and I have overheard the people complaining about the content as they leave!

I don't take it personally, but I know it gets the actors down a little bit. How do you handle walkouts? Good ways to boost morale?
I personally would like to bring a tortoise onto the stage, turn it into a racehorse, then into a hat, a song, a dragon and a fountain of water. One can dare anything in the theatre and it is the place where one dares the least. -Ionesco

MileHighSM

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Re: SHOWS: How to deal with walkouts
« Reply #1 on: Oct 18, 2010, 04:30 pm »
This very same thing happened to me when I was doing a production of Angels In America in a relatively conservative city.  People were shocked (even though we'd clearly stated what the show included) and would leave.  I think the best thing you can do is just encourage the actors-their performances are great, you're just dealing with audience members who weren't prepared for/are uncomfortable with the material.  It has nothing to do with them, these people just didn't pay attention.  You may also talk to the box office and/or house management about having signs where people pick up tickets and near/on all of the main theatre doors reiterating the racy material, so if they missed it while making their decision to come see the show, they know before they walk in-perhaps preventing them from walking out.

On_Headset

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Re: SHOWS: How to deal with walkouts
« Reply #2 on: Oct 19, 2010, 06:30 am »
Perhaps you could find a community member with expertise in this area (dramaturg, drama critic, professor of English or theatre, etc.) willing to do a brief spoken introduction for the Sunday matinee performances? A talkback's no good for potential walkouts, but an introduction--"here is the significance of nudity in this play, here is what it hopes to explore through erotic content, blah blah blah"--might help take the edge off, put things in their proper context (it's not just aimless shock-value nudity: we do have a point to make), or at least warn people beforehand.

Dee

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Re: SHOWS: How to deal with walkouts
« Reply #3 on: Oct 19, 2010, 10:45 am »
I work with an alternative company and with the raciness of most of our shows this does happen sometimes.  I've adopted the motto "It's only community theatre till some one gets offended.  Then it's ART!!!"  I share this with my cast/crew! ;D

Rebbe

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Re: SHOWS: How to deal with walkouts
« Reply #4 on: Oct 19, 2010, 05:42 pm »
Keep reminding them that the audience is reacting to the play itself, not the acting.  I’d encourage the cast to take it as a compliment.  I really like plays that are challenging and make people think and squirm and laugh uncomfortably.   Clearly yours is hitting that mark nicely.  Who wants to see something comfortable and predictable at the theater?
"...allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster."  (Philip Henslowe, Shakespeare In Love)

nick_tochelli

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Re: SHOWS: How to deal with walkouts
« Reply #5 on: Oct 20, 2010, 05:23 pm »
I work with a company on a regular basis who's content in past years has included rape, drug use, sex, murder, lynching, torture, racism, genocide, and Nazis just to name a few.

The company as a whole has always known the content could drive patrons (not just older) from the theater because we work in small spaces and seeing some of those things happen 10 feet in front of you can be disturbing, but we owe it to the work to not shy away from it. Like Rebbe said, their reaction is to the content, not necessarily the presentation.

The other tactic I've seen used by a cast is to "perform for themselves." Go into the performance knowing the audience won't get it, and it's perfectly ok. Just enjoy being onstage with each other and truly live in the moment and everything else be damned. This is something I had to do as an actor in a run of "The Good Woman of Setzuan" I performed in college. We started off being upset that people were leaving but by the time we closed we were having so much fun onstage we could honestly have performed to an empty house and been so happy to just share the space with each other.

Balletdork

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Re: SHOWS: How to deal with walkouts
« Reply #6 on: Nov 09, 2010, 08:43 pm »
Ah- walk outs.... in my small theater, 220 seats, we notice walk outs, too. All you can do is note it for the management and explain to the actors (if they ask! don't tell them about walk outs if they don't!) that every show has walk outs.

Our 1st weekend of THE 39 STEPS (a pretty fast paced comedy- nothing racy or edgy here!) we had 30 walk outs on a matinee-- we discovered after the fact that it was a school group w/ no chaperone or advisor! The students went down to the restaurant next door since they weren't supervised!