Inspiration in new spaces
Casting my mind back to times when I toured with shows frequently, I found that my mind was most engaged with the actual work, when the company I was a part of needed to adjust to different spaces to present the same performance. Finding one’s equilibrium doing something that the muscles were already used to doing, but in a new space every three or four days seemed to suit my temperament.
I don’t know how I would manage if I was performing the same show in the same venue for months on end. Perhaps I wasn’t designed for repetition and routine, unlike the folks who pay their mortgages by appearing in West End or Broadway shows, for example.
I also enjoy the process of discovering shortcuts to get around each new place I visit. The nightlife attracts me as well, even though I find nightclubs and bars to be somehow numbing and predictable.
There are some aspects of touring that I don’t miss, such as doing the get ins – in other words helping to carry equipment in and out of venues. There was one group I led, where some performers would conveniently disappear whenever it was time to do one of those. It is helpful to have enough resources to afford to have stage hands or roadies to do that sort of thing.
This week is offering me the chance to recharge my batteries, by stepping off the conveyor belt of being in the same place, doing the same thing over and over again. Thank goodness for that.
