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

Michael is a Co-Founder of the Big Apple Circus and the Founder of the circus\u2019s Clown Care Unit.\u00a0 Dikki is a senior member of that troupe, and a well-known clown and educator.\u00a0 He is also one of my oldest friends.<\/p>\n

Zach, on the other hand, is an actor in demand on Broadway and in Hollywood.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The play is called Gabriel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Zach had a decision to make.\u00a0 \u201cDo I ignore the phone and kiss the lady?\u00a0 Do I turn and face the audience to indicate my impatience?\u00a0 Or do I ignore the phone and somehow make the scene work?\u201d<\/p>\n

He chose to make the scene work.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

The audience\u2019s experience was not disrupted.\u00a0 The drama was justified, and the illusion of the play was maintained. Zach showed judgment and composure.<\/p>\n

Actors call this \u201cprotecting the fourth wall<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Circus performers like Michael \u00a0and Dikki have to let the audience in, because their audience feels the need to participate.\u00a0 If one of them had been in Zach\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

It would also have damaged the drama of the moment.\u00a0 Zach had a responsibility to the story the play tells.\u00a0 If he had acknowledged the disruption he would have undermined the illusion of reality and the performance of his fellow actors.\u00a0 He had a script, and so did the woman he wanted to kiss.<\/p>\n

Michael and Dikki don\u2019t have scripts.\u00a0 They have \u201croutines\u201d they do in hospital rooms, and each one is slightly different depending on the circumstances they encounter.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a long intro to a simple point:\u00a0 some speeches require a\u00a04^{th <\/sup>Wall, and some don\u2019t.<\/p>\n}

For instance,\u00a0 when you\u2019re giving the State of the Union Address, \u00a0it\u2019s highly unusual to break the 4^{th<\/sup> wall.\u00a0\u00a0 It \u2018s 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n}

However, when you are raising capital, or selling your IT services, or your brand plan, you should be prepared to tear down the 4^{th<\/sup> wall and collaborate with the audience.<\/p>\n}

Every circumstance is different\u2014you\u2019re either a clown or an actor\u2014but you\u2019re 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\u2019ve rehearsed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s Clown Care Unit.\u00a0 Dikki is a senior… Read More »The fourth wall or not<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[144,336],"tags":[36,603,18,291,88,337,905,30,117,333,401],"yoast_head":"\n