5th Septemebr, 2009 - Ideas About Directing #12

Idea 12 – Variety is the Spice of Life


The audience is doing something unnatural. It is expected to sit in the dark for over an hour, in circumstances where all the normal stimuli of conversation and interaction are removed. It is often warm, and it is usually in the early evening.

They will fall asleep unless you keep them engaged.

And there are tricks to keeping engagement. And one of the tricks is to change things. Even subtle changes in lighting seem to jolt the audience awake, or a change in pace. But keep looking for movement in the play and the lights and the volume. It is these dynamics that create interest, and keep the audience awake.