Matinee-ing

This morning was our first matinée performance for school children. Yup, Shakespeare at 10:30 in the morning. And not just any Shakespeare.... 12th Night. That's not exactly the kind of show that's easily accessible for anyone just coming to the party. But we were up to the challenge. The show went off without a hitch, even if it did go a little quicker than usual. A lot of my fellow actors were satisfied with the show, and they thought that today we had one of our best crowds to date. I, however, am taking a second to disagree. I've done a lot of shows for students, so I speak from experience. This was one of the most frustrating student crowds I've ever performed for. In my scenes, the kids were somewhat restless and it was slightly distracting. When we got to the final scene, however, I did get an "awwww" when I ended up with Viola, so at least some of the girls in the audience were rooting for me. But overall, I thought that the show was just about average, as the student crowd was a little frustrating to me. We have another one scheduled in a few weeks, and we've been told to keep a certain day open for another potential show. Bring it on, I say. But kids, please try not to talk to each other during the show...