Kalau kebanyakan kes org yang datang tengok teater adalah based on kenal2 or kawan2, kenapa perlu ada sikap kekwat ecink2 dalam kalangan penggiat tak kira la pelakon, pengarah ke, penjaga tiket ke?
Kita sedar je kebanyakan show org dtg sebab mcm ada kenalan or kawan perform ke, atau member jadi SM ke director ke or buat costume ke. So, wouldn’t it be best if para penggiat be nice and friendly, mesra and as best and as much as they can, be more approachable, befriend the penonton, atau bahasa profesionalnya networking. Instead of kekwat, ecink2, terpaling feeling dah level Sheila Majid. Ya, tahu awak performer.
Tak rugi pun I think. Kalau you ada jumpa penonton yg you tak familiar kan, lepas curtain call kan biasanya ada sesi comolot bersama penonton, spend lesser time dengan kaum kerabat you all yang you all kerap lepak sampai 4 pagi, and go to those yang mcm muka2 tak familiar, yang you all baru nampak. Mungkin tu first time mereka tengok you perform. Mungkin dia just ikut2 kawan nak tahu teater ni makhluk apa.
So you mingle with them, change contacts or socmed la paling easy.
Contoh conversation starter,
“Ok ke show tadi?”
“Any feedback?”
“Selalu datang tengok2 teater?”
Lepas tu based on apa yang mereka reply, baru you menyusup dengan ayat2 seperti
“Saya selalu je perform teater area kl.”
“Boleh follow IG saya (or group teater) ni”
“Next show saya/kami bulan 12 ni kat XXX. Datang la.”
Dia mcm tu. Human ni, kalau ajakan direct and ikhlas, and ada that human touch dia lebih lembut hati nak follow you, tengok show2 you, and dia akan kurang rasa awkward in the future kalau nak dtg tengok show you.
Mungkin anda boleh persoal, kenapa the audience tak datang je approach performer/penggiat. We all friendly je, and ok je. Ya tahu ok je.
TAPI,
Besar betul tapi, you kena faham performer-audience dynamics, hubungan antara performer dan penonton sifatnya tak symmetric.
Fitrah performer vs fitrah audience.
Kebiasaannya, seakan satu fitrah bagi audience untuk ambil tahu mengenai performer, siapa yang berlakon, siapa pengarahnya, yang ni watak apa yang tu watak apa. Manakala fitrah bagi performer/penggiat pula ialah they don’t need to know the audience. Well at least not as much and as thoroughly as the audiences’ needs to know the performer. Dia jadi mcm satu celebrity culture.
Which is actually, arguably common, sebab ya la, penonton rata2 lebih banyak daripada satu2 production, so yes akan ada kesukaran untuk each performer engage and networking with each audience. Cumanya, dalam kes theater scene di Malaysia sebagai contoh, maaf cakap, masih belum besar mana, so audience-performer ratio untuk sesuatu production belum jadi terlalu besar. There are cases (personal experiences) where the number of audience lagi kecil daripada bilangan ahli produksi, and even yg bilangan penonton lebih sikit daripada bilangan pelakon.
So sementara audience-performer ratio tu belum jadi terlalu besar, performer could actively start the engagement process with the audience. Audience dtg tengok you perform, walaupun awak belum level Sheila Majid, awak still performer or artist bagi mereka. So boleh jadi mereka segan2, takut2 ke apa ke kan. So, it’s not a crime untuk performers try to break that ice.
Maybe by doing this, penonton2 tu akan rasa, oh, mereka ni humble, friendly, approachable, tak kekwat. Kalau dia ada show lagi, nak dtg lagi la. Hah mcm tu. Ideal betul kan situasi ni?
And maybe by doing that, you will increase the number of audience on top of those crowds you already have. Dapatlah besarkan that bubble.
Another approach yang performer/penggiat boleh buat ialah, pergi tengok show production lain. But ni ada syarat tambahan, bukan just pergi show kawan2 kaum kerabat je. Pergi la show2 circle yang you guys tak pernah pergi. Contoh group2 teater Melayu, pergi la ziarah production teater2 English. Malaysia boleh jamin you will meet different sorts of crowd, and perhaps performers too. So dalam keadaan you di kerusi penonton, you try introduce diri you kepada the performers yang you pun a fellow theater practitioners jugak, change contact, pelawa dia to you future shows and all.
And kalau nak pi extra try to mingle with the crowd. Simple conversations yang can lead you to know each other, follow each other on socmed. Contoh conversation starter
“Selalu tengok teater sini ke?”
“Datang tengok siapa? Suka naskah mcm ni ke?”
And then bergantung kepada how the conversation goes, baru you sisip intro la diri you performer jugak, selalu perform di mana, which group, so on and so forth.
Nampak mcm try hard jual diri la kan, but dear, awak performer, what else would you sell if not yourself? Tu namanya marketing.
So yeah. Be friendly, approachable, show the audience especially the new one yang you approachable. Rasa diorang tak engage, you initiate the engagement. Do some work to get them to know you, bukan sekadar menunggu yang bulat datang bergolek.
Having said this, peringatan juga kepada audience yang kaum kerabat kenalan member brotherhood performer, bagi chance kepada performer untuk mingle with others. You dah kenal member tu, dah tengok 10 show dia, so enough lepas curtain call tu, hello2, tap2 bahu, congrats, pastu berangkut bagi mereka chance untuk engage more audiences.
Having said this juga, kepada para penggiat, kalau lepas show, Malaysia tak spend much time dengan you, bukanlah bermaksud Malaysia tak suka your performance or tak suka you or kekwat (ok la fine, Malaysia ada la percentage of kekwatness), tapi sebab for me, there are more people out there yang better for you to engage and layan or maybe Malaysia kena kerjar train, lah tiber. Plus, we can always contact each other and whatnot kan.
So, final words, kejar audience, especially the new faces, supaya they in turn lebih senang hati and selesa untuk kejar show2 kalian in the future.
