HOW IT FEELS TO BE ON STAGE

Greetings, friends.

As an actor of the stage, I often find people asking me how it feels up there. To be on the stage, with the whole world watching my every move, as if in anticipation for any failure I will make. In all honesty, it really isn't as intimidating as one would expect. Due to long rehearsal hours, saying the lines becomes second nature, so you're unlikely to forget a line during the performance, and if you do, you can just improvise around it. I technique I use is that I prioritise learning my cues, that way if I forget how a line goes, I can just cue the next person to speak and the show can go on uninterrupted. Pre-show anxieties are to be expected, but they are actually a good sign; if someone is not worried about how they will do in the show, it is a telltale sign that they don't care about the production, whereas someone who is nervous shows that they care about how the show will be received. If your anxieties get too much, just take yourself to a quiet place before the show to breathe and take yourself out of it for a while, then try to remember how rehearsals felt, and treat the performance like another rehearsal, albeit one that has a larger audience. It will be over before you know it, and any mistakes that are made can be treated as a learning experience.

I think one of things that I enjoy most about being on the stage is having audience to work off of; they laugh at the jokes you make, gasp at the revolutions you spill, and applaud you when the show is over, giving you a sense of recognition for your hard work. I especially enjoy it when a show allows me to work with the audience, or at least bounce subjects off of them. Though my stand-up comedy is not something to be desired, I'm more in my element when I have someone to interact with, willing or not.

Now, speaking as someone who spent most of their childhood feeling orchestrated by their peers due to having a harder time relating to people, the stage allows me a form of escapism from that reality, in that, no matter what I do on the stage, I'll be entertaining someone in some way, without having to do it speaking directly to them and having to worry about saying the wrong thing.

I hope you have found this informative, and that it has helped you in some way.

Sincerely,

Thomas