Where in the world am I today?: North Vancouver, BC, Canada

Last week I started an in-depth look at the venues aboard Princess Cruises various ships with a look at the Princess Theatre. Today I thought I’d go from a discussion of the ‘main room’ to what many might consider the extreme opposite end of the spectrum – The Piazza.

A bit of background on the space itself… The Piazza first appeared aboard the Crown Princess when she was launched in June of 2006. The atrium on this ship was designed to emulate an Italian Piazza or town square with a variety of shops and restaurants around the permitter and up and around the other two decks that opened onto the space. Now the story I heard was that Martin Hall, an English guy and also head of entertainment for Princess Cruises wanted to include a ‘Street Program‘ and incorporate performers like the ones he was familiar with from Covent Garden into this space to give Princess Passengers a new, exciting, never before seen on sea, entertainment experience by bringing street theatre to his ships and it proved to be a success. Performances in the Piazza proved to be so popular that the space was also incorporated into the next two Princess ships that launched, Emerald Princess (2007) and Ruby Princess (2008) were also designed with the Piazza space and base on it’s success there, three other ships, Golden Princess, Grand Princess and Star Princess were retro-fitted during 2009 with a Piazza space.

As you may be able to gather from the photo that accompanies this post, there is a main circular mosaic which in essence represents the stage. As you stand on this stage you face a small stairway where audience members will often gather if they’re enjoying the show. Tables and chairs are set up around the space on a couple of different levels and are usually well populated by audience members. The stage itself is located on deck five, and there are staircases that rise to deck six and seven which both open up to provide balcony viewing opportunities for those interested in standing and watching the shows from above. During my most successful shows in this space it’s been standing room only on deck five, fully lined stairways from decks five to six and from decks six to seven and audience lined up around all of the balconies as well.

This wide open ceiling space is wonderful for me as a juggler as I don’t have to worry about high throws as much as I do in some of the other Princess venues. Another really nice thing about this space is the fact that the acoustics are quite bright which makes the space feel livelier. In the Princess Theatre which I described last week the soft seats, the carpeted floors and the upholstered wall panels absorb the sound, but in the Piazza, the tile floors, and harder surfaced walls mean that the sound bounces around a bit more keeping the energy in the space a bit more dynamic.

Technical support in the Piazza isn’t quite as extensive as it is in the other venues aboard ship, but because this space also gets used for other events like the Captain’s Cocktail, the Champaign Waterfall, Cocktail Demonstrations, Game Shows, etc. most technical requirements can be accommodated. There is always a technician assigned to the space during performances who can run sound cues and assist with minor staging requirements, but for the most part, the more self contained the performer is the better.

The ‘street theatre‘ shows that are scheduled in the Piazza are fit in around other acts that traditionally perform in the ship’s atrium. Most often this means a variety of musical acts. I’ve worked on ships with piano players, jazz guitarists, string quartets and multi-instrumentalist. Typically the musicians are programmed for 30 – 60 minute sets where as all of the ships that I’ve performed on with the Piazza, the ‘Street Performers’ are scheduled for 10 – 15 minutes.

Now, coming from a street performance background, and in particular one where I’m used to doing shows that run from 30 minutes to an hour, a 10 – 15 minute time slot feels like I’m just getting started. I treat my shows in this space as a bit of a game with the audience getting increasingly involved in the performance and sometimes even after having done a 25 minutes spot (well over the required time) the audience will demand that I give them more… This is both enormously flattering and a real pleasure when it happens. All this to point out that although the time requirement is 10 – 15 minutes, there is flexibility if you want to play longer.

To be honest I think Princess is still trying to work out how to best use this space and are trying a variety of different performers and styles in it to see what works best. I’ve seen everything from roving characters who wander though the space during a 15 minute stint to vegas style cabaret acts who do their 8 minute act and promptly leave to stage magicians who use the space for a demonstration of close up magic to actual street performers who totally ‘get it.’

It’s always amusing to me when I join a ship and see people’s reactions to working in the Piazza. Some look at it as ‘below them’ as though they’re doing a show in a hall-way, a shopping mall, not a proper stage at all, but every venue can be a gold mine of opportunity if you approach it with the right attitude and likely because of my years of experience performing on the street I walk into this space and have some of the most enjoyable shows that I’ve ever done on ships in this space. Like so many things, it is what you make it, so why not make it fun!

Where in the world am I today?: North Vancouver, BC, Canada

Since I’m working a lot on cruise ships these days and in the coming months I thought I’d take a bit of time to describe some of the performance spaces that I typically work when I’m off galavanting around the world on one of these contracts. I seem to be working more for Princess Cruises than any other line, so I’ll use the five different performance spaces that you find on Princess Ships to give you a better sense of what you can expect if/when you head to sea for a contract on one of their ships.

The five different venues that I’ve performed in to date ranging from the very luxurious 800 plus seat Princess Theatre to the street-like setting in the middle of the ship that has been designed to emulate an Italian Piazza. Each of the performance spaces offers a different set of strengths and challenges, and knowing about each before you join these ships can help ensure that your shows look as good as possible.

On my most recent contract aboard the STAR Princess I ended up working in three of the five venues that are used on Princess Ships, The Princess Theatre, The Vista Lounge and the Piazza. Were I to cover all of the venues in a single post I’d end up with an incredibly long post, so I’ll attack this process one venue at a time. I’ll start with the biggest of the venues, The Princess Theatre (you can see the floor plan of the ship here).

The Princess Theatre is the ‘MAIN ROOM’ on Princess ships and has a traditional proscenium which lends itself well to the many production shows that are presented for passengers over the course of their cruise. In spite of the limitations and added technical challenges of creating a theatrical space aboard a cruise ship, this venue has a very sophisticated system of flies that allows curtains, screens and set pieces to be flown in and out of view of the audience making for very quick changes. Many of the ships also have lifts that allow the cast of production shows to be lifted up to stage level or lowered out of site which gets used to dramatic effect in a number of shows. One ship that I’ve worked on (The GOLDEN Princess) even has a ‘rain’ system where water is rained down from the ceiling in a line and is captured in a gap in the stage below. This is a pretty spectacular effect and one I hadn’t anticipated seeing on a ships.

Lights and sound are all controlled from the main booth at the centre back of the audience and this booth is maned by the senior production manager, along with a lighting technician and a sound operator. Backstage you typically find a crew chief and any number of back stage hands the number of which depends on the needs of any given show. Out front you may also have one or two spot light operators.

Now as a juggler I seem to be used more often in the cabaret venues on the ship than in the main theatre though I did get to play in the theatre on this last contract which allowed me to pull out my free-standing ladder for the audience. Normally I don’t often bring it out because the ceiling height in some of the other venues aboard the ship prohibit the use of some of my ‘taller’ props.

Depending on the ship, the theatre can hold an audience of anywhere between about five hundred and eight hundred passengers. The seats are raked, meaning that they slope up and away from the stage which allows for excellent sight lines for just about every seat in the house. Now, if the theatre is full, the energy in the room can be fantastic. On the other hand, if the venue is sparsely populated this venue can be significantly more challenging to play than some of the smaller venues aboard the ship.

Something about this particular venue on Princess ship, the soft seats, the carpeted floors, the upholstered wall panels means that the energy that you put out as a performer is somehow immediately muffled as soon as it leaves the stage. This is challenging enough when you’re playing to a fairly full room, but if the space is only 30 – 40% occupied it becomes even more of a challenge to get a sense of how well your show is being received. You just don’t hear the sort of reaction that you may expect having performed in other venues and knowing this in advance can help prepare yourself for a muted reaction from the audience. Now it’s important to realize that the audience may well be enjoying your show, but it’s just less audible because of the nature of the venue.

Audience reaction may also be a reflection of the demographic in attendance on the specific cruise that you’re being employed on. On shorter three or four days cruises (The ‘Booze Cruises’ as they’re known in the industry) the demographic is typically younger and crowds are more vocal and boisterous. On longer cruises (some as long as 30 days and even up to 100 days) the crowd is typically older (retired) and their level of enthusiasm can make it feel as though you’re not doing very well even though the audience is thoroughly enjoying your performance.

When the planets align and you get a full house of enthusiastic spectators the Princess Theatre is a joy to perform in. When, however, you’re playing to a house that’s 20 – 40% full and the crowd is made up of people who are less vocally appreciative, it can be an enormous challenge if you rely on audience interaction in your performance as I do. As always, the mark of a true professional is one who walks out onto stage and deliver the very best show possible no matter what the conditions… Besides, you get paid the same no matter what the situation, so why have fun! Next week I’ll look at the next of the venues I typically work on Princess ships, the VISTA Lounge.