'Never Peek Around The Wings On Stage'

Never peek around the wings on stage;
if you are tempted, focus then on lines -
you never can be too assured with lines.

You have to treat your audience with respect;
they are your clients after all, and should
you treat their patronage well, as you should.

You must be acting any time they see you;
always keep your mask on when on stage,
even like the Greeks back in that age.

Your audience should never see you break
your character; but if you ever feel
you must, do it offstage - you must conceal it.

Never peep your head out from the wings;
you never should allow yourself to be
distracted by whomever you may see.

If ever you give in to such an itch
and look around the curtains, if you ever
just step near to the light, though you should never,

the curtains may just flutter by your touch,
reality will shatter, you will break
th'illusion, you will show the world it's fake;

and then, you'll lose the point of the deception,
the audience will not forget that sin,
and you may never win their trust again.

So never peek around the wings on stage.
Instead, stay hidden till you hear your cue,
then go out there and act the best you can.



28/05/16

Poet's Notes

With everything that has been going on, including the finishing of our two-term-long study of the Ancient Greek play Lysistrata and the nearing of our production of Little Shop of Horrors, I felt that writing a poem related to the stage would only have been appropriate. I remember this being a matter that my drama teacher always had to drill into everybody's heads simply because we were too anxious to see what was going on stage without being discreet enough. I guess the actual stimulus was when our director this year yelled at a few students for doing just that.

On the surface, this poem is simply what any drama teacher will tell you, but it can also be a metaphor for any sort of deception you choose to undertake. Close friends should recognise, however, what my stimulus was for writing this poem, especially if they're going through the rehearsal process of this year's production. If the rest of you want to know, you have to find out yourself because I'm not talking. But I hope even without this extra insight, you appreciate this poem.