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The fourth wall or not

Over cigars and Chivas on Sunday night with Dikki Ellis, Michael Christensen and Zach Grenier, we came across an interesting distinction between clowning and acting, and one that is helpful to business speakers.

Michael is a Co-Founder of the Big Apple Circus and the Founder of the circus’s Clown Care Unit.  Dikki is a senior member of that troupe, and a well-known clown and educator.  He is also one of my oldest friends.

Zach, on the other hand, is an actor in demand on Broadway and in Hollywood.  He is currently playing the part of a Nazi officer in love with the wife of a British aristocrat on the occupied island of Guernsey during WW II.  The play is called Gabriel.

At one performance, as he was about to kiss this woman in the climactic moment of the play, a cell phone went off in the audience, and the man who owned the phone could not find which pocket it was in, so the phone kept ringing.

Zach had a decision to make.  “Do I ignore the phone and kiss the lady?  Do I turn and face the audience to indicate my impatience?  Or do I ignore the phone and somehow make the scene work?”

He chose to make the scene work.  He stood waiting with hat in hand as the phone rang, as if waffling in his desire to kiss the woman, until finally, when the phone went silent, he lifted his hat in a gesture of exasperation and resolve, and kissed her.

The audience’s experience was not disrupted.  The drama was justified, and the illusion of the play was maintained. Zach showed judgment and composure.

Actors call this “protecting the fourth wall.”   A theater audience wants to stay behind the imaginary wall at the front of the stage, and look into the fictional world of the drama, as though through a window.

Circus performers like Michael  and Dikki have to let the audience in, because their audience feels the need to participate.  If one of them had been in Zach’s situation, they might have been tempted to turn to the audience, put their hands on their hips, glance at their watches, and tap their toes impatiently, and it would have gotten a big laugh.

It would also have damaged the drama of the moment.  Zach had a responsibility to the story the play tells.  If he had acknowledged the disruption he would have undermined the illusion of reality and the performance of his fellow actors.  He had a script, and so did the woman he wanted to kiss.

Michael and Dikki don’t have scripts.  They have “routines” they do in hospital rooms, and each one is slightly different depending on the circumstances they encounter.

That’s a long intro to a simple point:  some speeches require a 4th Wall, and some don’t.

For instance,  when you’re giving the State of the Union Address,  it’s highly unusual to break the 4th wall.   It ‘s happened once or twice in my experience, when Clinton left his prepared text, and similarly when Obama responded to the disapproval coming from the Republican side.  But for the most part, the State of the Union is a script attempting to tell a convincing story about the current and future state of our country.

However, when you are raising capital, or selling your IT services, or your brand plan, you should be prepared to tear down the 4th wall and collaborate with the audience.

Every circumstance is different—you’re either a clown or an actor—but you’re in trouble if you misread the situation and stay behind the wall when you should come out, or come barreling out when the audience wants you to stay behind the wall so they can enjoy the story you’ve rehearsed.