Chapter 19 The first stage performance in the seventh quarter was not satisfactory

After coming to Beijing to study art for two years, in 2004, I finally had the opportunity to perform on stage for the first time.At that time, it was in a tea house in the Grand View Garden, and a performance team was gathered to perform for tourists at night.The popularity was very low that day, there were only six or seven spectators under the stage, plus Mr. Zhang Wenshun and my master, there were no more than ten people in total.I was talking about "Reporting the Name of the Vegetable" on stage. I learned a good cross talk joke. When I first went up, I was full of confidence. The more I talked, the more nervous I became. There was no one in the audience, and I was asked to leave in the middle. One, feeling overwhelmed with mixed emotions, watched him get up and leave, and a voice in my heart begged: "Don't go, don't go." But he still left.After finally biting the bullet and finishing the joke, no one applauded, so I bowed and turned around in silence. This was my first time.When I got off the stage and went to my master and Mr. Zhang, I didn't even have the courage to look up at their expressions.

That night, I followed my master all the way back home without saying a word, and I simply cleaned up. I lay on the bed and couldn't fall asleep for a long time.At that time, no one else lived in the house. My teacher’s wife’s father was still alive, and she was from Tianjin, so she often went back to Tianjin. There were only me and my teacher in Beijing.I couldn't sleep, so I got up and saw that the lights in Master's room were still on, so I knocked on the door to talk to him. We chatted until two o'clock in the morning, and I repeatedly said to Master: "Why am I so shameless? Le, I'm so ashamed, I..." The master who used to be very strict in the past, didn't have the slightest impatience that night, just listened to my frustrated chatter, and then enlightened me again and again, telling me his story : "When I first came to power..."

The master said that he was only seven years old when he took the stage for the first time, and the first joke "Crossing the House" he said was also enjoyed by no one, not a single one.Before he took the stage, he was sure: "My story is so fun, and everyone will have fun after talking about it, but after going up, there is no smile on their faces." This is the case, and it’s normal. It’s impossible for the audience to accept many things as soon as they come up, and they will laugh along with your thoughts. If it were really that simple and easy, everyone would be a character.Crosstalk is an art that makes people laugh easily and catches people's minds, and it is not so easy to master.

That night, Master enlightened me for a long time. Until the night, he went back to his room, and I went back to mine. I lay on the bed and I was still thinking, why is it so embarrassing?Why is no one happy?It wasn't until now when I look back that I realized that it was actually quite normal.At the beginning of the "Reporting the Name of the Vegetable" and my partner for about half a year, I felt that the burden was well understood. If I said it normally, the audience would be happy, but the result was really not what I imagined.Moreover, those few audience members came from a tourist group in the south, and they themselves were not very accepting of cross talk.Now the audience in the south is much better, the Deyun Society has become popular, and the level is different.

Although the performance experience that day was not particularly pleasant, after the disappointment, the sense of self-esteem and shame also formed a strong motivation for me. I thought more firmly: I will definitely be better next time I go on stage, and I will definitely be able to impress the audience. Let's talk fun.