I’ve been listening to Captain Frodo’s Way of the Showman. It’s like a wonderful, complicated way to understand the simplicity of entertainment. I try to be blunt and pragmatic, while Frodo’s poetic and philosophical. We agree about a lot.
I just listened to “Soul Spectacle.” To kinda paraphrase he says something about an act exposing the creator’s soul. I agree 100%, but also…
- I don’t believe in soul, but I get the concept
- Souls aren’t that special
- The act doesn’t come from the soul
We want our creations to come with a strong voice, but entertainers can get voice (a series of bold decisions based on the project, brand, and goals) confused with soul (some magical root of a person’s being). The danger is committing boldly to things without reason because the creator thinks this is who they are.
Developing a great act is not about us unveiling our true self to the public. It is us unearthing what the public wants from us.
I don’t know what an archeologist does
I’m going to compare developing an act to what I think an archeologist does. The inventor of a great act is really a digger. Digging a lot of dirt with different tools. Trying to find the best place to dig and then gently exposing truth. The entertainer does their best to unearth the general, gobal truths about humanity. The cool thing about archeology (in my imagination) is not what it tells us about past people, but what it tells us about all people.
As an act is brushed clean, it might be exposing the soul of the performer. It is showing the core of who that person is, but not because of their stubbornness or strong voice. The revelation is the result of listening to what an audience wants us to be.
Just like humans keep telling the same story over and over, and inventing the same religions over and over, and making a million brands of cola… the “souls” of entertainers are not original and special. If you want to be recognized as being a new flavor of person, being great entertainer is not the way to get that validation.
Great entertainers are gonna keep selflessly cleaning an artifact or digging for the next. It’s not our artifact. It didn’t come from us.
Just like the global truth of humanity; an authentic, preserved, exposed ancient artifact is rare and valuable. Making a show without listening to audiences is like making a crappy arrowhead yourself and getting it dirty.