One of the upsides to not being able to perform live at present has been reconnecting with my audiences via Zoom. Since lockdown began I have given four half-hour presentations of chat, comedy & song (accompanied by my trusty ukulele, Betsy) to audiences I have previously met and reached out to at the start of our isolation period.
The half-hour presentation is followed-up by a Q&A session for anyone who wants to participate, and the entire experience has been a tremendously enlightening one for somebody who’s work is so intrinsically linked with there being ‘no fourth wall’ between the audience and performer.
I have had to find new ways to include audience participation, find ‘stooges’ for the purposes of comedy, and create the alchemy I so long to create with a group of disparate people who all choose to congregate in a room together with myself at the helm.
There have been some steep learning curves – don’t use your phone as the device you Zoom from if you can help it – find out why in my recent vlog: https://youtu.be/baAULFm1Wbs.
However, overall I must say I’m delighted to have the opportunity to connect with people via the Zoom platform and, hopefully, bring some fun & laughter into living rooms during this difficult time.
Not that it’s any kind of replacement for live entertainment, of course. And today, I am buoyed by the discussions about trialling live theatre indoors once more from August 1st.
But in the meantime, and for those that wont want to venture out to a theatre just quite yet, I would be delighted to hear from any other groups – big or small – that would like me to help bring them together online.
Hi Paulus we are a WI in Long Bennington Lincolnshire looking for a zoom entertainer and you look very promising. Are you interested and if so can you tell me your fee. We are looking for November or December.
Look forward to hearing from you
Pearl Scott