So there’s a flash mob taking place, for a show called Down Devil’s Backbone. These are some folks who came all the way in from Indianapolis, and reportedly have delivered at least one show with one — that’s right, one — member in the audience. And received two zero-kitty reviews.
There’s been some fairly heated debate about this on Callboard. Some people have been saying that crashing their show is a bad idea, mainly because — why should we reward a show that’s terrible, when there’s so many other struggling shows out there?
Here’s my response:
I’ve been these guys. I tour, and I’ve brought shows to cities where I played single-digit audiences and got reamed by the local press. It’s not fun. I don’t know that their show’s terrible: two reviews don’t mean anything. Besides, I frequently love stuff that everyone else hates.
So I’ve been to these cities, and there’s enough theatrical dick-sucking that goes on, where nobody will spit on you if you don’t have a successful show. So I’ll confess that I actually got a little choked up at the fact that someone in my home city would think to try to swarm one of their performances.
Some people really object to doing this; that’s fine, and I actually really get the objections, and if it seems silly to you, by all means don’t go. But if, for whatever reason, you’re as utterly charmed by this idea as I am: make a point of hitting up their show. 2:30pm on Saturday, at TRP.
(With the final annoying punchline that I’m actually not sure if I’ll be able to make it, since I’m dependent on someone else for transportation; but if I’m in the area, I’ll be there.)
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