Subtext - the performer's secret weapon

Have you ever wondered why some performances affect you and some don't? Personally can get choked up when I least expect it. For example certain female voices get me every time, for some reason that I can't explain - why this voice, and not others? Sometimes when I'm reading bedtime stories to my kids, something about the story will start to choke me up, but I won't be able to put my finger on it.

And that I think gives some insight into how people are wired up. Everything that comes in through our senses gets bounced against our memories, past experiences, attitudes and beliefs, and sometimes the combination gives us an emotional reaction that is surprising!

So if as a performer you are interested in giving people experiences like that, you might be wondering how you can head in that direction for as many audience members as possible.

Now some audience members are naturally more receptive than others. The least receptive ones are constantly "on guard" and evaluating what is happening with their analysis engines revved up. No wonder - I bet they trained up by watching ads on television, and constantly having to remember that the creator of the ad doesn't care about them personally, but simply wants their money! We live in a funny world that way.

So what can we do, to break through those cynical barriers?

That's where subtext comes in. The lyrics of a song might be written down in black and white for everyone to evaluate, but there are other channels open even in the most cynical observer, and some of those channels are wide open, impossible to guard. They are the channels furthest from the analysis fortress of the brain.

But to use those channels, we need to be in an emotional space ourselves! The kind of mental space we as performers can only achieve if we put ourselves into a vivid and compelling story of our own making, with layers of human understanding and creativity over and above the black and white notes and words on the page.

That is the secret weapon.