Variety Performance Report
Music Hall
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| Eagle Tavern 1830 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_hall |
Performance taverns came with such high command that they were
demolished and purpose built theatres were put in their place, these theatres
were built so audiences could consume food and alcohol and smoke tobacco, this
made the halls become very loud and noisy, performers would have to make extra
effort in projecting their voices over the rowdy audiences. As a performer it
is important to be heard, and there was not much that performers could do about
audiences volume, as in early music hall, it was more of a social rather than a
performance, so performers would have to learn new techniques to make their
voices carry, as there were not the aid of microphones in early variety
performance.
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| Oxford music hall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_hall) |
In this picture to the right, you can see the audiences sitting around
tables, while consuming food and alcohol. The audience were not sat directly
facing the audience, like common theatres today, this is because the
performance was treated as a second to the socialising aspect of music hall
entertainment. This was a huge contrast from the conventional theatres where
audiences were seated in stalls facing the audiences and drinks were served in
separate bars. This type of relaxed theatre style, where food and drink were
served in the theatres, were dropped and replaced with alcohol free theatres and
placed in separate bars. This made the music halls a more regal event, where
audiences were respectful and sat quietly and watched the performance.
One of the most popular variety show venues is the Canterbury Theatre.
This was first opened to the public in 1852 by a theatre producer Charles
Morton. This music hall was purpose built tavern, and he was later known as the
'Father of the Halls'. The theatre has been rebuilt three times and was last destroyed
in the World War 2. This was a very profitable theatre, and was expanded in
1856 to allow more seating in the auditorium, due to popular demand. The
Canterbury Theatre mostly known for its ballet performances within variety
shows, which drew in large crowds, including very well known people and even royalty.
This made the whole theatre and event more popular when audiences heard of the
big crowds and royal attending. This would have increased the ticket sales.
This then led to the theatre having another extension in the seating capacity.
American Vaudeville is a theatrical genre of variety performance; this
was most popular in the 1880's until the late 1930's. This was mainly popular
in America and Canada. The structure of a Vaudeville performance is made up of
many separate acts, all exploring different acts and themes. Vaudeville was
inspired from many different sources like 'Concert Saloon' (This as very
similar to music hall, where drinks were served and performances were set in a
bar). Vaudeville also came from freak shows and American burlesque. From coming
from all of these sources, this is what gave the performances such diverse
acts, coming from all types of performances, and meant that there was always
something for all types of audience.
In the years before the American Civil War, In the US theatre in the
early 19th century, theatregoers would enjoy extracts from Shakespeare plays,
comics, songs and dance, and acrobatics. Vaudeville was known as the travelling
performance, going from city to city, this was one of the reasons that it was
such a popular activity, as people saw completely different acts with each
vaudeville tour. Family friendly vaudeville was seen in venues like town halls,
amusement parks and river boats, this was a much cleaner performance that was
aimed at a more working class audience, where parents could take their
children, however Vaudeville could also appear in more adult venues, like bars,
saloons and burlesque houses showed the ruder, truthful performers of the time.
In 1840 a well known variety show came into play, the Minstrel show. This was
known for its diverse range of acts, where white performers would perform in
blackface, and then after the civil war, it presented different types of
performers. This kept going as a form of professional production until 1910,
where the Minstrels where over taken by Vaudeville. Until 1960's high schools
and theatre groups would carry on the Minstrels in amateur productions.
In a variety show there are a wide range of acts, these differ
from singers to dancers and even circus acts.
Circus Acts were very popular from the
early 'Victorian Era' to the modern day circuses. A circus is a company of performers
that include acts like clowns, acrobats (trapeze, tightrope walkers), animals
and stunt artists which would often put performers in danger if not done
correctly. 1768 saw the first circus in England. These were mostly a
demonstration of skills, with a few other types of acts to link to the other
performers. Over the next 50 years circus became more pact with a wider amount
of acts, with a large amount of battle re-enactments.
Like most shows would have a presenter
during the show to introduce acts and explain to an audience what to expect, in
a circus this type of presenter was known as a 'Ringmaster'. The ringmaster
would often join in with some of the acts, and dance along to popular music of
the time.
In ancient Rome, circuses were used to
show off their horse and chariots, and were put into races, shows and staged
battles. These were performed in round of oval buildings, these were effective
for audiences as from all seats you could get a different view of the acts, yet
this made it harder for the performers, as they had nowhere to hide as the
audience could see everything that the performers could do. The seating in
these buildings were tiered, the seats closer to the stage were reserved for
the more important people, who would most likely pay more money for their
tickets. This type of entertainment was open for audiences of different
statuses.
The first circus in Rome was the 'Circus Maximums'
this was one of the largest circuses that sat over 250,000 people. Yet was
rebuilt several times, as it was built of wood. In England 1768, there were
circuses which just had horse-riding. Even though this type of circus did not
have as many acts as the first type of circus, but it was such as contrast to
traditional theatre that audiences had seen before, that it was a hit.
The types of acts that you would see in
the circus are:
Juggling-
this involves tossing objects into the air and repeating this action in a
cycle. These objects can variety from balls, clubs or hoops. Performers have
often been known to use anything that they can find that has a similar weight.
Plate Spinning - This circus skill is the manipulation of
plates, bowls and other flat objects. These are placed on poles and it is up to
the performers to keep them upright and moving. Plate spinning can be taken to
the next level when other skills are added on top or the number of plates is multiplied
Tightrope walking - This involves a tight rope strung across
two sides, and then the performer moves across rope, pulling comical moves to
fool and audience. There are other variations where the rope has strung looser.
This making it harder for performers to complete the act, and adds different
levels as they walk across.
Human Stunt artists - This act involves a lot of performers
putting their health and lives at risk. This can vary from falling from great heights,
being shot out of canons and having pain inflicted on them for the audiences
entertainment. One famous performer was Frank Richards (otherwise known as the
'Cannonball') His main at involves him having pain inflicted in his stomach.
People would hit him in the gut with a sledgehammer, cars and punches from
heavyweight boxers.
Clowning -
clowning is a type of physical slapstick comedy, which involves an over
animated character that pulls tricks and jokes on other performers and audience
members. Performers of clowning have a very distinct style, using bold clothing
and make up. Some people may see this act as the most likely performer within a
circus, but some people dread it due to its forward, intimidating nature.
Fire Dancing - This act is the performance of fire
manipulation and fire skills. Fire performance skills include; juggling, where
the known skill is taken to extreme and great timing is needed for a smooth
performance. Fire eating, where an audience is diseavved that fire is being
eaten. And many other skills like, fire gymnastics and body burning, where hot
rods are pulled over the performer’s body.
Victorian Circus was very different to the modern day circus,
where performers would use their basic skills to shock an audience, where today’s
modern circus is always trying to one up the last performer by coming up with
new skills that will shock an audience. Whereas the first circuses were more of
an event that was kept in one place and an audience would come to them, now
days it is very unusual to see a circus in its own theatre, and you would normally
see a travelling circus with a reconstruct able tent, known as the 'Big Top'.
Character Songs.
In Music Halls and Vaudeville the most popular act that you would expect
to see is songs. These were known as character songs, this is a piece of
musical material that tells a story about the performer. They explored very pop
culture topics, and told the story of what working class life was like and then
the contrasting life was like. A Very famous song was "My Old man said
follow the van, and don’t dilly dally on way'
(www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/m/music-hall-character-acts/). This told the
story of a man avoiding paying his rent; this was very relatable to audiences
of these times, as they went through very difficult financial times.
Section 4 - My Two Acts
I will look into two acts that I feel that link well to my skill
set, and I can see myself performing. The venue that I will be performing in is
the 'Sea light Theatre', this theatre is set End-on and the stage is at a lower
level to the audiences. This makes the audience and performer at a very intimate
level, this works very well with comedy theatre and songs as it makes it easier
to get a story or theme across. The audience that we will be performing to is a
very mixed age range, ranging from students to staff and even the older
generation. I will work on my final act to make sure that there is some content
for every act range.
The first act that I feel would suit my skill set is clowning. For
this act I will be myself performing a routine revolved around clowns and their
slapstick physical humour and the way they use audience participation to bring
the act together and to life. I will wear bright clothing and have elements of makeup
and costume that the audience can link to the origins of the act. I looked into
some of the earlier clown performers, one of the first performers was Joseph
Grimaldi, and he was the first performer to adapt the animated make-up, known
as the white face. He was well known at the most popular variety theatres and
became a fantastic performer.
The roles of the clown are usually the animated version of
everyday movements, and make every task a hard one and making it look like they
have a lot of difficulty in completing them. I watched a video called
'Grimaldi Clowns Church Service' (www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouB4vZk7Jwg). This
video gave me an idea of the common characteristics of a clown; I felt that
this would suit my skills of animated facial expression and my skills of portraying
a story or scene through my body, by using big movements and making every step
look like a big move. This act would not use my vocal skills, as the usual
clown would not speak, but have been known to have some type of vocal noise to
show emotions. I think this act would work really well in the Sea light theatre
as it is set end-on, so it would work well with audience participation as they
are right in front of the stage at stage level, The audience that we would be
performing to, as it is set within a college would be at the age range of 16+
this is not the most usual age for clowns to perform at as children like clown
entertainment as they use a stupidity humour. I would then adapt the act to
suit this age range by adding a sarcastic humour.
The Second act that I will think about performing is a song from a
musical; this would be linked very closely to the traditional variety act of a
character song. This is because the song will be telling a story or a character
that an audience can follow. I have looked back to some more traditional
character songs like 'If it wasn’t for the houses in between' this song was
performed in a lot of shows, yet was best performed by a performer called Gus
Elen. Gus Elen as very good at telling the story of the overcrowded living
conditions in London in the 1900's. I think that this act would suit me as I
can use my voice in different ways to show emotions and stories, by playing
around with Tone, Pitch and Emphasis. I think that this act would suit the Sea
light Theatre as it is a big space to perform in, which is open and can be
adapted to lots of different performance styles. When devising this act I would
think about different staging and ways to use the set.
I would perform a song from a classic musical like 'Singing in the
rain'. This well known musical was first seen on film in 1952, where singer,
dancer, actor Gene Kelly performed the well known song 'Singing in the Rain',
where he focused on his distinct dancing style, rather than the lyrics. This
musical number has been portrayed by many different performers and has been
performed on West-End and Broadway stages, where the song has been updated with
a faster beat and bigger dance routines. As we come into the modern day, the
song has been re-vamped, into dance beat music or even techno. I would update
my version of the song, by focusing on the lyrics and thinking of new meanings.
By exploring sarcasm and irony within the song. This would bring new life to
the song and the audience would like to see the classic song that everyone
knows yet with a new twist that nobody has seen before.
However both of these acts suit my skill set in different ways, I
think that the character song would work well as I can explore my use of vocals
and add in elements of movement through dance and physical theatre.
Bibliography:
Music Hall research - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_hall
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/m/music-hall-character-acts/
Vaudeville research - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaudeville
Video of Clowning - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouB4vZk7Jwg
