XXIX - Facing fears
Diving into the shared fright of horror season, exploring the role of fear in our craft.
Greetings, dear readers. We are getting dangerously close to Halloween, and it is nice to see other people experiencing the same fascination for horror I experience perpetually. It’s the only time of the year I feel in sync with the rest of the world.
People enjoy the rush of adrenaline of being scared, of being in front of something unpredictible, out of our control. If you think about it, it has a lot in common with the performing arts.
Like bungee jumping, parachuting, and rollercoaster riding, there is certain fear slithering through our spine when we are about to jump into a stage. Not because of being afraid of physical harm, like in the examples I set, but emotional harm that might come from self perceived failure or embarassment.
That feeling is good, though. It keeps us on our toes. When I was starting in theatre, I remember something one of the teachers I had told me “The day you feel nothing before going on the stage, that’s the day you should retire. Because you’ll be offering nothing to the audience“. Her name is Soledad Felloza, she’s a storyteller from Uruguay and she was running an intensive on that topic. Her words are still echoing in my head decades later.
When I was doing Playback Theatre with Teatro Playback Inestable in Valencia, our performances didn’t have preestablished topics. The conductor liked to draw a couple of topics from the audience and then they would vote. Curiously enough, fear was one of the topics that came from the audience the most.
We did several performances around that topic, and the stories went from literal fears, like cockroaches, to more emotional stuff, like being afraid of not being good enough, loneliness, losing a friend, being bullied, losing a pet, failure, etc… On those performances the message was quite clear: life is scary. Of course, thanks to the virtues of playback, it was quite therapeutic for the tellers.
In improv though, it is very difficult to play with fear. I’ve never experienced fear watching or performing a show. It’s true that I’ve been in improvised “horror movie” shows, having fun with the genre. But it’s not the same.
The closest show I’ve seen brave enough to tackle fear is the show Living.Dying.Dead. created by the improviser and health professional Owen Scrivens. It is a show where the main character is dealing with terminal illnes and they have to cope with it while making ammends with their loved ones. It is a very compelling and corageous show.
Vulnerability is a door to fear that, most of the times, it remains closed in improv. Or, maybe, being vulnerable is the fear that most improvisers are facing.
🎭 The Theatre bit
Since we are in spooky mode, I revisited a play that it mesmerise and scared me when I saw it many years ago. I’m talking about The Woman in Black, a play by Stephen Mallatratt adapting Susan Hill’s book of the same name.
Many years later, it didn’t have the same impact in me. Of course, reading it from the comfort of home, erradicates the autosuggestion generated by being inside a gloomy theatre with your focus on the stage, where lights and sounds help to build the tension.
While reading it I kept thinkig what a gift for an actor this play is. And this play only needs two. One actor focuses heavily on storytelling, relying on the text's strength, while the other actor works a different kind of muscle by portraying many characters.
It’s been almost twenty years now since I saw the Spanish production with one of my favourite actors, Emilio Gutierrez Caba, and Jorge de Juan. I remember the impact and opportunities offered by the metatheatre code of this play. Having the woman in black walking among the audience was chilling. Maybe it’s time I see this play in its country of origin.
Do you know any other scary play that might want to recommend?
📆 What is coming up
14th of November - Acaprov (London, UK). You can book your place to see another a cappella musical in Shoreditch. Get your tickets.
7th - 10th of November - Belfast Improv Festival (Belfast, UK). I’m going back to Belfast for the improv festival, and I’m looking forward to perform in the ensemble directed by Nick Armstrong. Get your tickets.
12th - 15th of November - Improv Fest Ireland (Dublin, Ireland). I’m also coming back to my favourite improv festival in the whole world. I’m going to be performing with fellow Improv Utopia Campers and local improvisers. Get your tickets.
📚 🎮 🎥 📺 The geeky dessert
I’m immersed into Nyaight of the Living Cat, which is an anime series about cats turning humans into other cats just by petting them. It’s not quite horror, but it is inspired by the zombie genre.
It is very funny to watch the struggles of the people, knowing they are in danger, but they have to resist the urge to pet those adorable creatures. Also there are a ton of facts about cats and their history thrown constantly, making it very educational as well. Totally recommended for a light watch.
✨ That’s all folks ✨
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Ferran Luengo