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.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 12:38 pm and is filed under Cruise Ships, Job Opportunities, Performance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.