ON-CUE - Amateur Theatre - Acting articles

OPENING NIGHT NERVES

and how to overcome them.

Opening Night is a very special occasion. Even if your final dress rehearsal was played before an invited audience, this is the big test. This is the real thing!
Feeling ill on opening night is more common than you may think. That heady mixture of nervousness and excitement can trigger off all kinds of bodily reactions ranging from a sick feeling to dizziness. Sometimes lead singers in musicals have been known to temporarily lose their voice.
Genuine stage fright, however, is a different kettle of fish and is often something you have to cope with throughout your acting career.
So what can you do about these nauseating conditions?
The good news is that there are numbers of things you can do to relieve opening night jitters and even the more serious case of stage fright.

THE JITTERS

The secretion of adrenaline is the body's natural response to tension or fear. Adrenaline causes your muscles to tense up, your heart to beat faster and your lungs to pump up. You are ready for action, in what scientists call the 'fight or flight' impulse, when you FEEL you are in danger. The operative word here is 'feel'. You feel tension or fear in either a greater or lesser degree.
Will you remember your lines? Or your moves? Will your voice crack on the high notes of your big number? Perhaps the phone will not ring on cue and you will have to improvise? Will the gun fire when it's supposed to? Does the side door open on, or off, stage? There is no end to the things that could go wrong and you can easily start imagining the worst.
Although this adrenaline rush may make you feel queasy while you are waiting to go on - once you get on stage it can make things easier for you. It will make you more alert; heighten your responses and give added zip to your performance. But in those last few minuteswhen you are waiting to go on stage, it can give you all kinds of butterflies, because you have no outlet for this kind of surge. Even the most experienced of actors can suffer from nerves on occasions, for example the first time they play the lead.

WAYS TO OVERCOME THE COLLYWOBBLES

People devise all sorts of ways to overcome this queasiness. Some knit, some run over their lines repeatedly, some spend ages brushing their hair, some have a nip of brandy and some spend most of their time in the toilet. I remember one of the most popular actors on the local scene used to position a firebucket near the door, through which he had to make his first entrance, just in case he had to throw up. The stage manager used to go mad and move it back to its proper position, if not before, then immediately after this actor made his entrance. On one memorable occasion he forgot to and muggins tripped over it and arrived on the stage looking like Jerry Lewis in his most manic phase. Fortunately we were presenting a farce and the audience laughed thinking it was part of the action. For the rest of the run, some of the members of the cast couldn't resist saying 'Enjoy your trip!'.
So if you get butterflies devise your own method to divert your mind away from your nerves It doesn't matter what you do, as long as it is effective and it works.

SEVERE STAGE FRIGHT

This can be crippling and if you are a brilliant actor of considerable talent, it might be wise to consult a therapist, or even a hypnotist. If you're not all that brilliant, however and the feeling persists whatever you do, then perhaps you should consider using what talent you have backstage. It is unwise to make yourself ill over what is simply a hobby; an all absorbing one maybe, but still a hobby.
Should you be one of those actors whose stage fright disappears completely as soon as you are on stage, then develop a system designed to allay the initial anxiety. It should not be too difficult and the method you employ depends on your individual need.
Even major stars are not immune to this crippling condition and according to all accounts, both Judi Dench and Barbra Streisand are martyrs to it, which explains why Barbra makes so few tours unlike people like Barry Manilow and most pop stars. Sir Laurence Olivier, in his autobiography, says he had to fight his nerves throughout the whole of his career.

BE CONSIDERATE TO OTHERS

As I mentioned , most actors feel a tweak of nerves on opening night and the size of the part they are playing is immaterial. If you are using a communal group dressing room, and let's face it, most amateur groups have the minimum of facilities available; then try not to disturb the other actors with your fears. If you are a restless type who feels the need to perambulate around the area, try not to disturb the actor who likes to sit quietly in the corner doing a crossword. If you're the chatty type and like to gab, don't try and project yourself on those who want to sit quietly and concentrate.

CURTAIN UP

On the first night, some directors like their cast to assemble an hour or more before curtain up for a last minute briefing about make up, costumes or the set. Often it is an excuse to allay their own nerves and ensure that they have a full complement aboard and no cast member has succumbed at the last minute to the 'flu, or some other disaster.
Even those performers who do not suffer from nerves have a variety of ways in which they behave before curtain up. Some seem to require no preparation at all, but can break off a whispered conversation in the wings and step out on stage completely in character. Others, however, may go into a corner and practice their accent, or read and re-read a speech which has given them trouble. Experience will tell you which is the best solution for you.
On subsequent nights, unless elaborate make up is needed, the cast members may not assemble quite as early. Some indulgent directors may even allow someone who doesn't have to appear until Act 2, or Act 3, to come a little later, although in my experience this seldom happens.
Once in the backstage area, it is the rule in most groups that you do not leave the backstage area without the knowledge and consent of the stage manager. Unlike one company I joined when just a sprog, in which two members of the cast who were not on stage until Act 2, immediately after curtain up and when most people's attention was diverted, opened the dressing room window, climbed out and disappeared to the nearby pub! The stage manager was apoplectic!
Above all, never anticipate problems and maintain your concentration. If one of the cast members is prone to stumble over a particular line in the script, don't let yourself tense up and start to wait for it. If you do, you will find that if they do forget a line, it will be where you least expect it and leave you floundering. So keep a tight grip on your concentration and when the curtain goes up you will not only have been able to conquer your nerves, but you will be able to impart sufficient zip to make the whole experience a joy, both for you and the paying customers.

This article was partly based on experience and partly on the book by Paul Baldwin and John Malone - The Complete Idiots Guide to Acting - the illustrations were by Jody Schaeffer. RS

HOW ABOUT YOU?

You may not have agreed with a word I have written, if so please drop me an email with your views as only through your feedback can I assess the sort of article you need. I would be happy to publish your point of view. RS