Day 5

Cabaret is an extreme sport.

Today reality is sinking in. We're on stage tomorrow in front of an audience. This morning we all rehearsed our segments, and they are raw. I only dreamed up the final piece of my show last night. I'm now clear about the point of my story, but I still need to find the words to convey it succinctly and entertainingly. My run-through is mainly ad-libbed and the whole set needs a lot of tightening up. I'm videoing each of my performances during the week, so I've captured what I said - hopefully there will be some phrases there that I'll be able to use in my show. There's a famous quote "I don't know what I mean, til I see what I say" - and it certainly helps to record what comes out of your mouth when you're in flow, rather than simply trying to write it down.

Everyone has a show. Some great stories, and emotion pouring out in places. Some of that is quite raw, too, and there is discussion about "When will you know that you'll be OK with the material on stage?" It's not the months or years that count; it's the extent to which you have processed the event emotionally. In the speaking business it is said "Don't do therapy on stage" - you don't want the audience feeling sorry for you. Someone said this week "No self-pity on stage - it is courage that breaks hearts". There's lots of that amongst this group.

We then spent some time working on our patter, and by 2 pm we were all at The Promethean, ready to rehearse on stage.

It feels quite different to stand on the stage - it's not a classroom, and although it's only a small theatre, the space feels huge. After today I'm feeling quite wrung out. I "drew a blank" in my set whilst on-stage. Of course, it's best to do that in rehearsal, so you know which bits you need to practice, it's dented my confidence slightly. Whereas I've been blogging all week as though I'm in control as a second-time participant in this program, I'm well aware that we are not that well-prepared yet. These segments didn't exist on Monday, or even yesterday. They are all newly created, and will need quite a bit of refinement and polish. Some of them will get expanded from ten minutes to a full-length show of up to an hour. That's a lot of work, but there has to be a first time to perform your piece, and it's only by performing that you get a feel for what works and what doesn't work so well.

So - it's time to memorize some patter. I like to do this while walking - so tomorrow I'll be up early and pacing around the neighbourhood talking to myself. I hope I can get a decent sleep tonight.