A regular Carnival Cinema column of showbiz life musings by Captain Frodo –
On the way of the Showman: ‘The Soul Spectacle’
By Captain Frodo
The Soul Spectacle
An Illuminated Showman’s Act, is a manifestation of his inner development. The Act is not only the demonstration of his mastery of the Craft, but it is also an exoteric expression of his soul. The Act demonstrates, on a deeper level his understanding of life, vocation, enthusiasm, attention, culture, craft, and the individual’s place in it all. The performance beams all this, from the heart of the Illuminated Showman into the Crowd’s Eye.
The Crowds Eye is different from the spectator’s individual eyes. The Crowd’s Eye is their collective eye, the group’s Third Eye, if you will. It is not physically manifested off course. It is a state of collective perception that emerges when a Crowd has been so completely engaged that each individual loses some of their individuality and gives themselves over to the group self. They no longer think about their outward appearance or how they are perceived to others. They are no longer self-conscious. Physical traits that indicate individuals have reached this state can be extreme animations of facial expressions, like young children spectators begin mirroring the minute changes in their emotions with their faces. This creates a stream of expressions, something a regular adult normally refrains from. The spectator “wears their heart on their sleeve”. Other signs visible to the Showman from the stage are mouths left agape, hands, or whole awkward body postures frozen in mid-gesture for extended periods of time.
The Act and the Showman’s soul are intrinsically linked like two sides of a coin, each reflecting the other. Each performance of the Act becomes, whether intended or not, a reflection of the showman, his maturity as an artist, technician of the Craft, and human being.
The reflections of the inner development will always be present in the Act. Yet brilliance is achieved through focused work. An important aspect of the Craft is to refine the facets of the show lens to project the soul with the utmost clarity and vividness. This work on the Act becomes work on oneself.
Whatever form the Act takes, be it a vaudeville act with 8 minutes of brilliance, or a full evening show of grand razzle-dazzle and epic proportions, the work is in perpetual development. Most commonly the Soul Spectacle is an act as opposed to a full-length show. A longer performance is more complex and harder to perfect. The relationship is like between a short story and a novel, or an essay and a fleshed out book-length thesis. Sometimes the story or ideas are so rich and complex that they can only be expressed in one hour then the work must and will be done on the long form Act.
The nature of the Soul Spectacle lends itself to the simplicity of expression. Every Crowd is different and getting them Unified and receptive to the full impact of your Act becomes more difficult with the longer forms with its extended complexity.
Everything can always be improved and refined. There is always more work to be done, more detail and layers to be added and things to change. Perfection is unattainable but non the less the goal.
The material in the Act changes over time, the presentation evolves, new skills are added or subtracted. The Act’s constant development, reflects the growth and change of the performer. The skills presented develops and thus the technical aspects grows. The meaningful content of the show grows as the Man presenting the Act grows. The Showman’s experiences and knowledge of the world gets focused and presented.
The ShowMan Shows Man Man.
As life itself is endless in its permutations and complexity, so is its expressions through the individual Showman’s Soul Spectacle.
New knowledge has a snowballing effect. The more you learn the more you elevate yourself and thus you see further. The effect of reaching a new peak, great as it is, is to see further into the vastness of your own ignorance. What you don’t know fills libraries, fills the entire universe. Encounters of one’s limitations produces a humbling effect, which eventually, softens the individual’s drive towards separation and solipsism. Triumphs, tragedies, insights, illuminations, and life lived, shapes us and becomes part of us, and is thus reflected in our Soul Spectacle.
The Soul Spectacle is the product of initiations and developments along the Way of the Showman. The study of the Craft, the skills displayed, the presentation of the Material, the Way to Connect with the Crowd, Unifying the Crowd, manifesting the Crowd’s Eye, the philosophical themes, the tone, the character, the thoughts presented. The Great Work undertaken to understand and develop the individual human personal aspects of a Showman, the esoteric studies of the One Who Faces the Other Way and his place in the world, all this, the sum total exists in the Soul Spectacle. It is all there for the Crowd to witnesses as the Showman showcases his Master Piece Act.
Alchemical Showmanship
The Act is to a Showman what chemistry was to the Alchemist. It is the medium of expression and their point of interaction with the world. It is what they do, their field of study, their work, their living and their life. For the Showman the chemicals are substituted by human beings. The Showman’s medium is human attention, perception and experience.
We can gain insight into the phenomenon of the Soul Spectacle by looking at it side by side with the alchemist’s so-called Great Work, their ultimate aim, the creation of the philosopher’s stone.
The philosopher’s stone is a legendary substance, allegedly capable of turning inexpensive metals into gold. For a long time, it was the most sought-after goal in Western alchemy. In the view of spiritual alchemy, the philosopher’s stone is a symbol representing the final outcome of man’s inner transformation. Succeeding in its creation would be synonymous with a state of enlightenment in the maker, thus concluding the alchemist’s Great Work.
The Way of the Showman is a process of creating, with mastery of the Craft, and basic physical and interactive skills, a higher, inspiring experience, a display which materialises truth, enriches and elevates the human experience. To the point that it pushes humanity’s understanding of the world and their place in it forward by transmuting what is not yet understood into images, experiences, and drama for Crowd’s to see. The Soul Spectacle is a manifestation of the evolution of consciousness, the becoming of an individual, and it tells the story in the alchemy of time.
The Act is the visible in-the-world product, of those who follow the Way of the Showman. It is not itself a final outcome, the Act is not what is intended to become gold, the act, like the philosopher’s stone is the catalyst for metamorphosis.
The creation of the Act is the transmutation of the Showman into a source of Illumination. A shining gold star. Yet, this is only the first two steps. The final step, and the real goal of the Act, is not just to illuminate the Way of the individual Showman, it is the Illumination of the Crowd. It is here we find the Act becoming the fulfilment of the Illuminated Showman’s purpose, his reason d’être. It ties him into the great web of life and human existence giving his own existence meaning. It gives him his place in the world.
All the rehearsals, all the time spent synthesising experiences makes sense when the Crowd’s Eye takes in the performance of the Act. As the true connection between the Showman and the Crowd is established the Act become the catalyst for the transfiguration of the Crowd. The Act becomes a Seed that enters into each spectator’s open heart. As the seed sinks in, it shoots roots and sprouts, thus beginning the transformation of the Crowd’s hearts into gold.
This is the alchemical nature of the Soul Spectacle and Secret Showmanship.
See you all along the Way.
Captain Frodo Pic by John W McCormick Carnival Cinema
Master Showman, dad, husband.
Currently performing in Opium at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
(And Carnival Cinema Co-Founder)
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