Most people know that the wings in a theatre are those parts of the stage where the performers stand by and hopefully can’t be seen by the audience. Sometimes we put a strip of white tape on the floor so that young performers know which side of the line to be so they are out of sight of the audience.
However long your rehearsals have been nothing quite prepares you for your first time standing by in the wings of a large theatre – unless you are young. Before they are teenagers most young people breeze through things not fearful of the outcome. But when hormones arrive you suddenly realise you could fail, and you worry about what people will think.
Taking deep breaths can calm the nerves and we usually say that butterflies in the tummy are good because they keep you on your toes and remind you to stay focused. But that’s easily said when you hear the buzz from the incoming audience and you start to think – why did I agree to this? I wish I were somewhere else. For me, I found I yawned a lot. I suppose it was a sign that my body needed more oxygen, that my breathing was constricted. So deep breathing helped.
The moment finally comes and you’re on. Suddenly there are bright lights, you’re aware of the audience and off you go. The nerves disappear as you have so many other things to think about. And when you come off you have a huge sense of relief. I was ok. I didn’t mess it up. Or – that went well. Even – I like this! It’s so good for young people to experience the thrill of going out there and performing. Apart from the confidence and boost to self-esteem it carries the immediate reward of seeing something through and overcoming your fears.
Once you can do that you can go again and then get better at it. For instance, many performers when they are starting, forget to keep performing until they are completely out of sight of the audience. They make an exit but they drop their shoulders and slow down. They think they’re off. When you persuade them to keep the performance going until they are out of sight – it’s much more effective.
You can never be too relaxed backstage, anything can happen. One problem with large numbers of young performers is that they become so excited that they chatter and lose their concentration. It’s difficult but necessary to teach them to be quiet and focused. Once they have mastered this, they understand how to save their nervous energy for the performance and by holding on to it backstage can make it more explosive when released into the performance.
I once worked with an old actor who when he started was in the same company as the celebrated actor Sir Lawrence Olivier. It was Shakespeare’s Richard the Third and my actor was learning his trade by watching from the wings. The great man would leave it until the last minute before he appeared at the side of the stage. One day he swept in looked down at the actor and said, “Don’t sit on the props basket – awfully bad luck” and immediately swept onto the stage to declaim,
“Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son of York.”
