Comedy news and views from Jeff Kreisler, with an IFC twist.
Drop him a line at sketchy (at) ifc dot com.
Making a Mess... On Stage
By Jeff Kreisler on 10/29/2009
Filed under: On Stage, Up For Debate
I was at a show last night with Elephant Larry. Very funny group.
They made a mess on stage. Crumbled, mashed in cookies, cream, cupcakes, mush, goo, crumbs everywhere. I've seen The Apple Sisters routinely spray corn, melon, and water everywhere. I caught New Excitement dumping coffee, spit, blood, and food all over their play space, too.
Those are just a few of the sketch groups that routinely make a mess on stage.
My questions for you are:
- What other groups do that regularly? (Answers including "Gallagher" or "Gallagher 2" will result in disqualification... from life).
- Do you like?
- For an audience, does it enhance the experience, detract from it, make you feel uncomfortably frightened, or draw you into a silly world of play where anything is possible ("Let the wild rumpus... get messy!")?
- As performers, does making a mess provide an extra sense of ownership, power, thrills?
- Should groups do this? Are there advantages to getting hectic on stage?
- What about as a matter of venue relations? Some places are designed with easily mop-able floors, others not so much. Should groups worry about that sort of thing, or just do their magic? (Most do clear such stuff with the venue before hand, so it's not a total surprise to anyone... and then they clean up after).
- Am I over-thinking this? Do I just want to be messy myself?
Tell me.
image: www.mrmen.com
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metalguru
Grabass at the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago was a midnight sketch show that was brand new every week. It was a celebration of vile, lowbrow, surreally offensive comedy. The last few sketches of the show would almost always involve characters that uncontrollably bled or secreted other bodily fluids. The stage would always end up being a glorious mess. It was a great way to spend a drunken friday night.
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