Globe Performance

On the 31^st of October we performed at The Globe, Stockton. As the date might suggest this was for our Halloween project, Ghost Light Tours. This was a very different experience for all of us and was an extremely exciting and hard challenge for me. I had never done an immersive performance before, never mind in front of an audience that you had to react too. This type of performance requires a lot of improvisation, the audience can talk to you, and you have to be able to say something back. For this show in particular I played the role of a bartender, I was the first person any of the audience met as they entered the theatre. Before anyone had come in I was in the bar area pretending to wash cups and clean down tables, like I was doing my job in the 1930s. Once the audience entered, I would act shocked to see them and confused as to why they were there. I would then explain to them where they are and what time period, they were in. This would be done by introducing some of the biggest names to show at the theatre when it was an art deco cinema. Following on from this I would explain who the owners were and what they do, at this point I would have the audience look like they were interested in what I had to say. During my second run through of this I had some children ask me some questions. In response I exclaimed that they were too young to be in a bar anyway and that made them quieten down. After this scene I had to move to the downstairs bar, in this scene all I had to do was pass a chair.

Nevertheless, I still wanted be just as creepy and mysterious and add to the atmosphere of the night. I did this by staring at them with a straight face. I wanted the audience to come down and wonder how the hell I got there so quickly and for them to feel the Halloween spirit. Overall, this was such a fun experience and so different to anything I had done before. It was so entertaining to be able to play with my character and try to creep the audience out, even just by being there, which hopefully I can and did do. I distinctly remember that the same kid I had told was too young to be at the bar seeing me in different areas and every time he was so shocked that I was at that spot and he hadn’t seen me move, it was great. I took my inspiration for my bartender character from the bartender in ‘The Shinning’ and I wanted to give off the same energy. I wanted to be creepy and unsettling building the atmosphere and tone for the evening as soon as they walk in.