Theatre | The Guardian: Prompters such as Zumpe are the unsung heroes of a German theatre scene that puts increasingly gargantuan demands on its performers, as it ploughs a path somewhere between the avant garde and the post-pandemic appetite for more traditional entertainment. In Britain and America, as well as in France and Italy, the profession of the souffleur, or prompter, is a thing of the distant past. In productions in London’s West End, cast members are expected to get each other out of a fix if they blank on stage. Exceptions are sometimes made for ageing actors, but even then the more popular solution is an in-ear device that keeps off-stage interventions undetectable.
1 comment:
I had an instance over the summer where I nearly became a prompter. We had a two-person show and one of our actors completely lost where she was, and neither really knew how to get out of it. Before they got back on track there was about five minutes of stumbling where the stage manager wanted to send me on stage, but they had jumped around so much she didn’t know what line or lines I should feed them. I think what the article states, “...a German theatre scene that puts increasingly gargantuan demands on its performers.” is especially true, and not just of German theater (although from the sounds of their repertory process they are expecting much more of their actors). I do think that the prompter being on stage is interesting and much more in line with the avant-garde theater described in the article. I can’t see a traditional Shakespeare play having someone with a binder following the actors around. This article truly shows the difference in theater and theater-goers among various cultures.
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