Performance Anxiety in Great Performers
Performance anxiety is among the most widespread of phobias; by some measures, it afflicts up to 20 percent of Americans. That group includes a striking number of people who perform for a living. Barbra Streisand developed overwhelming performance anxiety at the height of her career; for 27 years she refused to perform for the general public, appearing live only in private clubs and at charity events, where she presumably believed the pressure on her was less intense. Carly Simon abandoned the stage for seven years after collapsing from nerves before a concert in Pittsburgh in 1981. When she resumed performing, she would sometimes ask members of her band to spank her before she went onstage, to distract her from her anxiety. The singer Donny Osmond had panic attacks during performances for a number of years. (He is now a spokesman for the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.)
Read more. [Image: Reuters]
It will come as no surprise to you, the Reader, to learn that I can “relate to” this topic more than I might wish to admit. Of course I am not a performing artist; I am a narrating artist. Nonetheless, when I am invited to read my narrations in public, I find I am prone to a stunning range of anxieties and discomforts.
How do I manage? In a variety of ways. Usually, an hour before going on, I send an email to Carly Simon, requesting that she meet me in whatever venue I’m appearing in, come to the green room or holding tank or whatever pre-performing space they’ve given me, and spank me. To this date she has never once replied. But it doesn’t matter. Simply composing the email, and then waiting breathlessly for her appearance, is enough to distract me from my fears. By “show time” I am sufficiently composed to be able to go on and, as we say in the narration game, “kill.”
How could it be otherwise, when I am,
Yours more truly than is healthy,
The Narrator
(via theatlantic)
Source: The Atlantic
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this just made me feel a lot better about myself
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“Carly Simon…would sometimes ask members of her band to spank her before she went onstage, to distract her from her...
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The fact that Hugh Grant is hopped up on Ativan when the cameras are rolling explains a LOT.
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