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Dear John

How can I feel safer performing as a solo female?

First published 30th November 2006

Question:
I've done a number of tough gigs recently, where even though the crowd liked me there were some threatening heckles and once or twice I felt unsafe as a solo female. Is this how it's always going to be?

Answer:
While it is no news that a strong desire for approval is one of the motivating factors in many performing careers, I don't think this desire is in any way exclusive to performers.

It is true to say that when things go well for us on stage we tend to get that approval in the form of applause in a slightly more up-front way than say an administrator might. But being in the spotlight also makes us easier targets to locate when someone decides to 'have a go'. Heckling and unfavourable reviews are part and parcel of a career which involves working in the public eye. However, even though this job often looks more glamorous than other ways of making a living, like every job you are entitled to go about your business without fear for your safety.

Realistically, it's easier to take responsibility for coping with negativity yourself rather than waiting for someone else to do it for you. Here are two views on how best to do that from people who have literally as well as metaphorically 'taken the knocks'.

What the experts say:

Shelley Safari

Shelley Safari has a background in TV production but for the past ten years she and husband Karim Safari - a master and former world champion in Muay Thai Kick Boxing - have been more frequently in front of rather than behind the cameras, teaching their own system of mixed martial arts. Classes attract royalty, pop stars, TV celebrities and sports people and they have been featured on BBC1's Fat Nation series and Sky One's So You Think You're Safe?

"As a performer you are in the unenviable position of having to be friendly to members of the audience while at the same time trying to maintain a polite distance. Being in the limelight can give people the impression that you are somehow more accessible, so that simply being friendly can also be misinterpreted by some people as a 'come on' while at the same time maintaining any kind of professional distance off stage can easily lead to accusations of thinking you are better than anyone else.

"Of course the majority of your audience are well adjusted people who, much as they might be big fans (or perhaps you may not be to their taste at all) understand that you are doing a job just like everyone else and that just like everyone else you are entitled to do it while keeping your private life and personal safety intact. But sadly, there are also the other kind of people who insist on pushing their personal hang-ups on you, whether by being over-familiar or overly aggressive and these are the situations we train people to handle.

"The first principle of self defence is not to put yourself in unnecessary danger in the first place and if you are finding yourself in situations where you feel threatened too often, you or your agent if you have one, may need to apply some common sense to how you are going about your business. Having said that, even some of our clients who have a flock of bodyguards escorting them to the local supermarket, take the time to learn self defence because you can never be too safe."

Sheila Ferguson

Sheila Ferguson's career has encompassed chart topping records, her own TV sitcom, lead roles in several West End productions and braving the jungle in I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! Unsurprisingly, her upfront stage persona tends to attract devotees and detractors in equal numbers, including perhaps the most unsuccessful racist hecklers of last year, whose attempt to derail her panto debut only succeeded in generating enough publicity to push the show through the record sales barrier.

"As I wrote in The Stage last year, while there has never been a time in my career where I wasn't fighting for artists' rights - whatever their colour - alongside doing my own work, it is usually friends, family and fans who get more upset by the incidents such as the racist abuse incident, very personalised press attacks or the occasional nasty email to my website.

"I appreciate their concern but I think people sometimes forget that long before my girl group days I was a graduate of Talent Night at the Apollo in Harlem, along with the likes of Marvin Gaye, and facing that audience was one of the fastest ways to toughen up that anyone could experience. What made that crowd tough? It wasn't that they were loud or rude - although they could certainly be both - it was that they really had seen all the greats perform on that stage and if you didn't live up to that legacy they had no qualms about letting you know.

"Decades later I still don't take any show for granted. I'll take any criticism seriously, if it's given seriously. I respect my audiences and want to give them the best show I can and when I'm trying something new, I'll keep trying and if necessary failing until I get it right.

"All of which means I really don't have the time to worry about what people think who have a specific agenda to take potshots, regardless of what I do. I would suggest you don't waste your time on them either."

John sums up

While our questioner and our experts are female, I think the above advice is just as relevant to male performers. It is no disgrace to your macho image to insist that any venue you are playing takes whatever action is needed to remove or control audience members who are obviously there to spoil the show, and any reputable venue will recognise and enforce that difference. As a solo performer travelling to venues you don't know, you need to take exactly the same safety precautions you would if going on a blind date and if things do turn nasty, know in advance what steps you need to take to be safe. Sadly as you get further in your career more people will be resentful of you and there's not a lot you can do to change that. But the choice to spend time dwelling on what was said about your last gig or on making your next gig your best yet is entirely up to you.

* Further information on the Safari Gym from 07877 583 649 or the site www.safarigym.com

* Sheila Ferguson is in Dick Whittington at the Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage. Call 08700 131 030 or www.gordon-craig.co.uk

* Feedback/queries are welcome to dearjohn@thestage.co.uk

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