Gigging Tips for Non-Actors (revised and extended)
Rev 2, incorporating stuff from suggestions and comments people have made. This version is the same one as on Facebook.
Gigging tips for non-actors: some tips, from me to y'all
I am not a trained actor, nor do I feel like I am especially good at improv. I use more of the British style of learned technique than the Method style of feeling the emotion in what I do. After years of practice, introspection and training in commission sales, I have found tricks that help me get by in the world of faire street acting; both Renaissance and Dickens. These have helped me, I hope they help you.
1) Know your character.
2) Have some stock starter lines that get you in character.
3) Have a routine (or two).
4) Be polite, at least in an acting sense.
5) Practice.
6) You will make mistakes.
7) Have no shame.
Let me explain:
1) Know your character. Everything you do is going to come from knowing how your character got to where they are in life. You don't have to have a full character history, but you should be able to know the personality of your character. Are they generally happy or sad? Optimistic or pessimistic? Shy or outgoing? Knowing these things gives you a framework with which you can figure out *how* you respond to a certain situation. If you're completely stuck, choose a character that's just like you. *Then* you can figure out the life details that got you to that point. This doesn't require you to change your personality at all, only to remember a few facts that brought you to your actor space. There has to be a quote somewhere that "Being yourself is the hardest acting job of all", but that would have been said by an acting snob. Being yourself is easy, you do it all the time - remembering your lines is the tricky part. In any case, the more you know about your character, the easier it will be to answer "What would $CHARACTER do in this situation?" - and then do it.
On a similar note, even if you don't know all of your character's background, figure out their motivation. What do they want? Are they working on the next big scam, or are they looking for tuppence for food? Do they want respect, or a shilling? (And sometimes it is an either/or decision.) Motivation can come out of background, or it can help develop your background. The two tend to go hand-in-hand, and knowing one will help with the other.
2) Have some stock lines that get you in character. Physical characterization begins with a home position, but if you're not feeling that, being able to talk yourself into character can also be useful. "Bugger off!" is a common expression at Sal's, and just saying it is enough for some people to get the feeling of being in the street that they're looking for. For others, it's a heart-felt "Happy Christmas!" "'ello, 'ello" likely works for yet others. Perhaps it's a song you can sing to yourself. If you start to feel like you're a 20th century person in odd clothing, try using your stock phrases to see if they can take you back.
3) Have a routine (or two). Just for reference purposes, I am differentiating a routine and a gig as being one of interactivity. A gig is a routine where two people are interacting and two gigs that start the same way may turn out completely differently. It also has a central premise, although the execution of it is highly variant. A routine, however, is just that - it's generally static in form, even if the lines won't always be exactly the same.
As an example, my character attempts to sell some rope from the most recent hanging, as a souvenir and late Christmas present. I approach the customer, I tell them what I'm selling, I explain how it will make a good Christmas present. And while the customers are reacting, short of running away, almost nothing they say is going to stop me from going from A to B to C. Whether they react with shock, disgust, excitement, curiousity, etc - after I explain that it's rope from the hanging, I'm going to tell them "it makes a lovely Christmas present". Actual interaction, where I might have to answer questions, or play with the customers, or things of that nature doesn't happen until *after* I've done my routine, which is where it does become more of a gig.
Now, granted, there's timing issues in there, that make it gig-like, but my basic approach doesn't change, and it's therefore a lot easier for me to do this time after time, with an audience that's new every minute or so. I can do this routine practically in my sleep.
Customers will generally let you finish your routine, as long as it's moving, while actors will say or do anything. So save the routines for the customers, unless you're prepared to depart from it earlier than expected.
Where do you get a routine? A lot of it is going to come from your character background, and if you're a book character, even more of it will. If your character is a cesspool cleaner though, it's natural that you would have a gig involving cleaning cesspools - offering your services, telling stories of the things you've found, etc. If you're an accountant, it's natural that you would have a gig or routine involving accounting - offering your services, stories of things you've found, etc. If your character drinks a lot, be prepared to talk about drinking or the activities surrounding it. If they don't drink at all, you might be horrified by the thought of drinking, or curious about what it's like. What might your character say to a parent of a small child? To a group of teenagers? To a Marine? If you know your character, what you say will follow naturally.
4) Be polite. Your character may not be a polite person, in which case, stay in character, but to be polite in an acting sense means not stepping on someone's gig (or routine) and living by the improv rule of "Yes, and...". The first is self-obvious; if you see someone in the middle of a gig, don't start your own that steps on theirs. (There are ways of doing that, that are polite, but they are more advanced and too detailed to get into in the margins of this post.)
"Yes, and..." is a classic improv technique that essentially says "Accept the premise, run with it, and add something else."
An example: Someone comes up to you and asks "Did I see you at Sal's last night?" If you just say "No." the gig ends right there. [An exception - the Monty Python Argument Sketch. Classic, but not common.] If you say "No, and what were you doing there", that's ok, but you've derailed the first actor. It can work as improv, but it's not especially polite. But if you go with "Yes, I was, don't you remember?" or "Yes, I had the gin. What did you have?", you've established a premise, a place and you've given the first actor something to work with. You have turned a simple question into an environment with possibilities on where to take it. Of course, not every response needs to be "Yes and" in phrasing. Following the previous example, person A can respond "No, but it would explain why the inside of my mouth tastes like I licked the inside of an old boot." which not only accepts the premise, and runs a bit with it, but also gives an easy out to person B, who can say "That's what you get for drinking cheap gin." and wandering off, or continuing on from there.
Anyway, "Yes, and" is probably at the heart of most improv techniques, and to learn more about it, consult an improv book. The important thing is to just not leave the instigating person out in the cold. If you want to opt out of an improv invitation, do so politely, with an in-character explaination. "None of your business", "What are you, a peeler?", "I don't talk about such things" and other phrases of that nature will signal that you don't want to play, and bring the gig to a quick but cohesive conclusion.
The other side of politeness is not to force someone to gig with you. If they're responding with nothing but conversational outs, that's a clue. Stop and move on.
5) Practice. Nobody gets good at acting, even (especially) gigging, all at once. Practice is the glue that holds all the theories and hints together. Think of the lines you'll be using, of the things you'll be saying. Mentally rehearse them. Practice saying them out loud, in accent. If you can find friends who will put up with you doing so, practice in front of them. Practice with them. If you think you have a routine in mind, write it down. If you have props, get used to holding them. Try to visualize your environment, and your place in it, as you practice. Do what you need to help your body remember what to do.
6) You will make mistakes. Keep in mind that the beauty of improv is that your audience *doesn't know your lines*. If you mess up, the only way they'll know is if you demonstrate it to them. Sure, you may have accidentally referred to Mr. Dickens as Bill Sykes, but if you don't let that fluster you, the customer will either not notice, or they'll think you meant it. (One of the things that Faires are gifted with is a very forgiving crowd. If you're not careful, some of them will even try to *help* you recover your gig, asking leading questions, or making polite corrections. Really.) Did you mess up too much? Blame it on the gin (or whatever). Make them think you meant to do it. Above all, do not panic. And if all else fails, and it's an option, leave - but leave in character. You may not have this option if you're in a scripted or semi-scripted scene, but if you do, a good exit can be just as useful as a good entrance or a good dialog.
Remember - nobody is perfect, and everyone messes up. The experienced folks have done so often enough to work with it and if you can spot where they do mess up, try and figure out what they did to recover (or ask them at an appropriate off-stage time). The customers aren't the only people who want you to succeed - your fellow actors also want you to.
*However*, this doesn't give you license to just go out there, unprepared and unready, and expect people to treat you as if you're brilliant. They may not know if you mess up, but they can certainly tell if you're not being sincere in your efforts. They can *always* tell if you're not trying. If you don't respect your audience or your fellow actors, they won't respect you.
7) Have no shame. Let go. You're *acting*. Even if you're only playing yourself as you might have wanted to be in Dickens time, you are *acting*. Nothing you say (within reasonable context) will reflect back on you personally, except with regard to your acting skill. So you have no reason not to be as silly or stupid (or serious) as your character is allowed to be. And, given the sensory nature overload of Dickens (or Faire), you're going to have to be *really* over the top (and/or *really* good) for people to remember you a day later, so it shouldn't be something to be worried about. In the specific context of Dickens, there are no small characters. Dickens characters do not just fade into the woodwork; if they are in the woodwork, they march there triumphantly. Respect that.
If you give yourself permission to be silly, stupid or even just over the top in whatever way to choose, you have a broader canvas with which to react. You don't always need to go to eleven, but it's good to know that it's there.
"No shame" and "Know your character" are the primary rules, from which all the other rules follow. All the characterization in the world won't help you if you don't just get out there and interact. On the other hand, interaction without character breaks the customer's immersion, and spoils the effect everyone else is working hard to maintain. You cannot have one without the other, and even if you only keep those two in mind everything else will follow naturally.
But even above all that, remember that we do this for fun. Make sure to have some.
Your servant,
Me
[Thanks in particular to Janice Gutshall, Beth Hanscom, Dan Morgan and Kaellie Clein-Cunningham for comments and remarks that either helped me clarify things to myself or for outright suggestions that I have incorporated. But others of you definitely helped as well.]
And, of course, I'm still open for comments, critique and corrections.
Gigging tips for non-actors: some tips, from me to y'all
I am not a trained actor, nor do I feel like I am especially good at improv. I use more of the British style of learned technique than the Method style of feeling the emotion in what I do. After years of practice, introspection and training in commission sales, I have found tricks that help me get by in the world of faire street acting; both Renaissance and Dickens. These have helped me, I hope they help you.
1) Know your character.
2) Have some stock starter lines that get you in character.
3) Have a routine (or two).
4) Be polite, at least in an acting sense.
5) Practice.
6) You will make mistakes.
7) Have no shame.
Let me explain:
1) Know your character. Everything you do is going to come from knowing how your character got to where they are in life. You don't have to have a full character history, but you should be able to know the personality of your character. Are they generally happy or sad? Optimistic or pessimistic? Shy or outgoing? Knowing these things gives you a framework with which you can figure out *how* you respond to a certain situation. If you're completely stuck, choose a character that's just like you. *Then* you can figure out the life details that got you to that point. This doesn't require you to change your personality at all, only to remember a few facts that brought you to your actor space. There has to be a quote somewhere that "Being yourself is the hardest acting job of all", but that would have been said by an acting snob. Being yourself is easy, you do it all the time - remembering your lines is the tricky part. In any case, the more you know about your character, the easier it will be to answer "What would $CHARACTER do in this situation?" - and then do it.
On a similar note, even if you don't know all of your character's background, figure out their motivation. What do they want? Are they working on the next big scam, or are they looking for tuppence for food? Do they want respect, or a shilling? (And sometimes it is an either/or decision.) Motivation can come out of background, or it can help develop your background. The two tend to go hand-in-hand, and knowing one will help with the other.
2) Have some stock lines that get you in character. Physical characterization begins with a home position, but if you're not feeling that, being able to talk yourself into character can also be useful. "Bugger off!" is a common expression at Sal's, and just saying it is enough for some people to get the feeling of being in the street that they're looking for. For others, it's a heart-felt "Happy Christmas!" "'ello, 'ello" likely works for yet others. Perhaps it's a song you can sing to yourself. If you start to feel like you're a 20th century person in odd clothing, try using your stock phrases to see if they can take you back.
3) Have a routine (or two). Just for reference purposes, I am differentiating a routine and a gig as being one of interactivity. A gig is a routine where two people are interacting and two gigs that start the same way may turn out completely differently. It also has a central premise, although the execution of it is highly variant. A routine, however, is just that - it's generally static in form, even if the lines won't always be exactly the same.
As an example, my character attempts to sell some rope from the most recent hanging, as a souvenir and late Christmas present. I approach the customer, I tell them what I'm selling, I explain how it will make a good Christmas present. And while the customers are reacting, short of running away, almost nothing they say is going to stop me from going from A to B to C. Whether they react with shock, disgust, excitement, curiousity, etc - after I explain that it's rope from the hanging, I'm going to tell them "it makes a lovely Christmas present". Actual interaction, where I might have to answer questions, or play with the customers, or things of that nature doesn't happen until *after* I've done my routine, which is where it does become more of a gig.
Now, granted, there's timing issues in there, that make it gig-like, but my basic approach doesn't change, and it's therefore a lot easier for me to do this time after time, with an audience that's new every minute or so. I can do this routine practically in my sleep.
Customers will generally let you finish your routine, as long as it's moving, while actors will say or do anything. So save the routines for the customers, unless you're prepared to depart from it earlier than expected.
Where do you get a routine? A lot of it is going to come from your character background, and if you're a book character, even more of it will. If your character is a cesspool cleaner though, it's natural that you would have a gig involving cleaning cesspools - offering your services, telling stories of the things you've found, etc. If you're an accountant, it's natural that you would have a gig or routine involving accounting - offering your services, stories of things you've found, etc. If your character drinks a lot, be prepared to talk about drinking or the activities surrounding it. If they don't drink at all, you might be horrified by the thought of drinking, or curious about what it's like. What might your character say to a parent of a small child? To a group of teenagers? To a Marine? If you know your character, what you say will follow naturally.
4) Be polite. Your character may not be a polite person, in which case, stay in character, but to be polite in an acting sense means not stepping on someone's gig (or routine) and living by the improv rule of "Yes, and...". The first is self-obvious; if you see someone in the middle of a gig, don't start your own that steps on theirs. (There are ways of doing that, that are polite, but they are more advanced and too detailed to get into in the margins of this post.)
"Yes, and..." is a classic improv technique that essentially says "Accept the premise, run with it, and add something else."
An example: Someone comes up to you and asks "Did I see you at Sal's last night?" If you just say "No." the gig ends right there. [An exception - the Monty Python Argument Sketch. Classic, but not common.] If you say "No, and what were you doing there", that's ok, but you've derailed the first actor. It can work as improv, but it's not especially polite. But if you go with "Yes, I was, don't you remember?" or "Yes, I had the gin. What did you have?", you've established a premise, a place and you've given the first actor something to work with. You have turned a simple question into an environment with possibilities on where to take it. Of course, not every response needs to be "Yes and" in phrasing. Following the previous example, person A can respond "No, but it would explain why the inside of my mouth tastes like I licked the inside of an old boot." which not only accepts the premise, and runs a bit with it, but also gives an easy out to person B, who can say "That's what you get for drinking cheap gin." and wandering off, or continuing on from there.
Anyway, "Yes, and" is probably at the heart of most improv techniques, and to learn more about it, consult an improv book. The important thing is to just not leave the instigating person out in the cold. If you want to opt out of an improv invitation, do so politely, with an in-character explaination. "None of your business", "What are you, a peeler?", "I don't talk about such things" and other phrases of that nature will signal that you don't want to play, and bring the gig to a quick but cohesive conclusion.
The other side of politeness is not to force someone to gig with you. If they're responding with nothing but conversational outs, that's a clue. Stop and move on.
5) Practice. Nobody gets good at acting, even (especially) gigging, all at once. Practice is the glue that holds all the theories and hints together. Think of the lines you'll be using, of the things you'll be saying. Mentally rehearse them. Practice saying them out loud, in accent. If you can find friends who will put up with you doing so, practice in front of them. Practice with them. If you think you have a routine in mind, write it down. If you have props, get used to holding them. Try to visualize your environment, and your place in it, as you practice. Do what you need to help your body remember what to do.
6) You will make mistakes. Keep in mind that the beauty of improv is that your audience *doesn't know your lines*. If you mess up, the only way they'll know is if you demonstrate it to them. Sure, you may have accidentally referred to Mr. Dickens as Bill Sykes, but if you don't let that fluster you, the customer will either not notice, or they'll think you meant it. (One of the things that Faires are gifted with is a very forgiving crowd. If you're not careful, some of them will even try to *help* you recover your gig, asking leading questions, or making polite corrections. Really.) Did you mess up too much? Blame it on the gin (or whatever). Make them think you meant to do it. Above all, do not panic. And if all else fails, and it's an option, leave - but leave in character. You may not have this option if you're in a scripted or semi-scripted scene, but if you do, a good exit can be just as useful as a good entrance or a good dialog.
Remember - nobody is perfect, and everyone messes up. The experienced folks have done so often enough to work with it and if you can spot where they do mess up, try and figure out what they did to recover (or ask them at an appropriate off-stage time). The customers aren't the only people who want you to succeed - your fellow actors also want you to.
*However*, this doesn't give you license to just go out there, unprepared and unready, and expect people to treat you as if you're brilliant. They may not know if you mess up, but they can certainly tell if you're not being sincere in your efforts. They can *always* tell if you're not trying. If you don't respect your audience or your fellow actors, they won't respect you.
7) Have no shame. Let go. You're *acting*. Even if you're only playing yourself as you might have wanted to be in Dickens time, you are *acting*. Nothing you say (within reasonable context) will reflect back on you personally, except with regard to your acting skill. So you have no reason not to be as silly or stupid (or serious) as your character is allowed to be. And, given the sensory nature overload of Dickens (or Faire), you're going to have to be *really* over the top (and/or *really* good) for people to remember you a day later, so it shouldn't be something to be worried about. In the specific context of Dickens, there are no small characters. Dickens characters do not just fade into the woodwork; if they are in the woodwork, they march there triumphantly. Respect that.
If you give yourself permission to be silly, stupid or even just over the top in whatever way to choose, you have a broader canvas with which to react. You don't always need to go to eleven, but it's good to know that it's there.
"No shame" and "Know your character" are the primary rules, from which all the other rules follow. All the characterization in the world won't help you if you don't just get out there and interact. On the other hand, interaction without character breaks the customer's immersion, and spoils the effect everyone else is working hard to maintain. You cannot have one without the other, and even if you only keep those two in mind everything else will follow naturally.
But even above all that, remember that we do this for fun. Make sure to have some.
Your servant,
Me
[Thanks in particular to Janice Gutshall, Beth Hanscom, Dan Morgan and Kaellie Clein-Cunningham for comments and remarks that either helped me clarify things to myself or for outright suggestions that I have incorporated. But others of you definitely helped as well.]
And, of course, I'm still open for comments, critique and corrections.