Nervous Before A Show? Trust The Basics
3 min read
Nerves before a show are natural, but how do you manage them? Trust the basics!
Everyone gets nervous before a show, it’s a natural part of the process I call “being about to go on stage in front of people”.
You can’t remove your nerves altogether (they are a normal part of going on stage), but you might want some helpful tactics for managing particularly bad cases of nerves, or to help you know that you’re going to be ok in spite of them.
The most effective solution for me is: Trust the basics.
It sounds crazy but... improv works! “Yes And” works. Building a scene one brick at a time works. That’s the stuff you need to remember before you step out.
Things That Might Make You More Nervous
There are lots of reasons nerves can feel particularly debilitating before a show. Even people who’ve been performing for decades can find themselves really worrying beforehand. So it’s a worthwhile topic to cover whether you’re about to do your first class showcase or you’re doing your 100th Harold.
Some reasons nerves get particularly bad:
- You’re performing a new show, new format, or with a new team.
- This is a bigger show on a bigger stage than you’re used to.
- There’s someone in the audience that’s making you go “oh great, they’re watching, I have to be good”.
- Or, of course, maybe it’s your first ever show. (congrats!)
What Are We Nervous About?
Apart from the obvious - ie. you’re about to step on stage in front of people - these are the thoughts that I believe make nerves worse before I perform.
- I have to be ‘good’
- I have to be ‘funny’
It’s maybe an oversimplification, but boiling it down to those two thoughts helps me combat them. What I find with both of these is that I’m worrying about things I can’t control.
I Have To Be ‘Good’
I can’t actually control if what I do is considered ‘good’, I can just do what I think is good. I can’t control how well my choices work for the show, or go down in the room, or whether people watching consider them ‘good’ or not.
I Have To Be ‘Funny’
This one is the real trap. This is the one that, in my opinion, creates all the trickiest moments in a show. Every argument in a scene, or saying “no”, or panicked choices, tend to come from this. The fear that you have to make the audience laugh makes us aim for ‘surprise’ when we should be aiming to ‘build’. And as with being ‘good’, if it’s down to the audience’s opinion, you can’t actually control this.
Trust The Basics: Go To Your Fundamentals
To combat those nerves, and to try and thwart the panic that comes with having to be ‘good’ or ‘funny’, my big recommendation is to go to your improv fundamentals.
Listening, agreement, and adding a little bit more.
Everything worthwhile in improv shows comes out of those central points, regardless of what other theory, form, or style you’ve learnt since then.
On top of that, if we understand that being perceived as ‘good’ and ‘funny’ are out of our control, then you have to look at what you can control. And what you can control is how you approach the scenes, how you react, and to trust that the process works.
Here’s some quick reminders that I think it’s good to run through before a show you’re nervous about:
- Listen and be curious
- Start from agreement
- Make eye-contact
- React honestly
- Tell us how you feel
- Be flexible, hold on to your ideas lightly (you know, improvise)
Remember, it’s impossible to be totally nerve free - nerves mean you care, and caring is good! The goal is to try and make them manageable and to trust that, however scary it feels, you’ve got this.
