GET'M

Cuesheet Performance Guide

GET’M Performed by theater Bontehond from the Netherlands

Presenting Sponsor of Performances for Young Audiences

g n i t t e G M ’ T E G Lights up on a television newsroom. A man in a jacket and tie prepares to deliver the daily news. The reporter opens his mouth and…lip-syncs at rapid speed. His exaggerated facial expressions and the increasingly silly sound effects signal that we’re in for a wild adventure. Meanwhile, the weather reporter arrives and gives a nonsensical forecast. (Four suns?)

Suddenly, there’s a third reporter. Big problem: There’s still only one microphone. Cue the chaos as the reporters struggle for the microphone, yanking it out of each other’s hands. Let the chase begin.

Hold on. Does this scene seem familiar? It might if you’re three-years-old. How do the sounds and pictures on the TV seem to you? Mouths moving so fast it all sounds like jibber jabber gibberish. Grownups running around in crazy comic circles. Big people dressed in colorful and playful clothes—but from the bottom down.

So close, and yet so far.

Who’s on First?

The Elements of Slapstick In a slapstick performance, whether on stage or screen, performers engage in madcap, often mimed, physical interactions that tend toward the absurd. Performers depict seemingly simple, “normal” situations where actions happen ineffectively or inefficiently and things “go wrong.”

Vocally, slapstick performers often embrace made-up languages and over-the-top sound effects to humorous effect.

GET’M incorporates Russian, Dutch, Italian, and English—none of which is meant to be fully understood. At other times, the performers deliberately do not speak, instead relying on their bodies to tell the story.

Ultimately all the horns, whistles, bells, and cartoon music leave little doubt that we’re in slapstick territory, where physical comedy reigns and we should expect the unexpected.

Surprises abound in plot, costumes, and props, as the Physically, slapstick performers’ movements are larger than feuding reporters engage in heavy hijinks to get control life, from their dramatized smiles and grimaces to their large, of the microphone. deliberate reaches, grabs, falls, and about-faces. Though these actions may look dangerous, they are carefully planned to Inspired by the cartoon antics of Tom and Jerry, Road Runner, maximize both tension and humor. and Bugs Bunny, and the slapstick screen silliness of Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy, this show will inspire anyone, As audience members, why do we find slapstick funny? young or old, who craves wacky fun.

Perhaps we laugh as a way of acknowledging that we have seen something that’s not as it “should” be. Our brains spot something awry—and there is ALWAYS something awry in slapstick—and we want to show that we know it. Slapstick also exploits the tension that comes from teetering on the edge between normal and absurd.

Two TV hosts sneak up on the microphone they both want to capture and control.

Telling Stories Through Improv: It’s Your Turn Stories can be told through an assortment of forms. We share narratives through poetry, fiction, dance, painting, song, and theater. We also tell stories through improvisational game playing—or pretend play—which is where you come in.

In GET’M, actors take a simple premise—newscasters fighting over a microphone—and craft it into a creative full-length performance.

What’s the story you want to tell?

Let’s play “Yes, And!” Imagine any two (or more) characters who have some kind of connection. How do these characters know each other? What is their job or their role in this relationship? How do they feel about each other?

Who’s in charge?

To start, one person begins the story with a simple statement.

For instance, “I went to town today.” Another person must now respond to this statement, and he or she should begin with “Yes, and…” to continue the scenario. In this case, one might say, “Yes, and I bought an ice cream cone.” You can play with set or no expectations, create problems, and even propose silly solutions.

You can also explore using a prop and costume accessory to enhance the storytelling. Choose unexpected, silly ways to use your prop. Break the “rules” that they usually follow. Wear a hat as a shoe. Brush your carpet with a hairbrush. Flip pillows with a spatula. For more fun, use music and sound effects.

And if you must talk…only gibberish allowed!

Ready to tell your story?

Watch Out. Listen Up. GET’M relies on slapstick and mime, meaning it emphasizes physical humor and uses minimal verbal elements.

What to look and listen for…

• Magical elements. Sometimes the actors take advantage of performance spaces out of the audience’s view to help them make quick changes to props. Watch what happens when the microphone goes behind the counter for a moment. Identify all the other ways the microphone “fools” the actors.

• Satire. Discuss moments when the actors are making fun of the conventions of reporting. Describe how they mock weather reports. News reports? Raffles and games?

Interpret how the show’s take on broadcasting is satirical?

• Cartoon inspiration. Often, cartoon adversaries seem to run in circles, not getting that far from each other. Similarly, the GET’M characters are engaged in a comic chase.

Describe other cartoon conventions you see. Discuss absurd elements, moments of clowning, cartoonish musical choices, physical humor, and the ways that GET’M’s wacky style can transcend language and culture. You might even want to go home and watch classic cartoon chases (Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote, for example) to see if you can spot the connections between GET’M and these cartoons.

Can you describe what happens during this commercial?

If your children like performances in the silent, slapstick tradition, find video clips of classic performers such as Charlie Chaplin, Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, the Keystone Cops, the Marx Brothers, Carol Burnett, Gilda Radner, and Mr. Bean.

• Music and sound effects. GET’M doesn’t rely on comprehensible spoken words. Instead, recognize how it uses the universal language of heartbeats, frog croaks, whistles, and warning bells. Repetitive xylophone beats tell the audience that time’s ticking, and a buzzer signals that a character has made a mistake. Even when performers “speak,” they intone their gibberish such that the audience understands their general intent. Point out other examples of when their fake words speak volumes.

David M. Rubenstein Chairman Deborah F. Rutter President Mario R. Rossero Senior Vice President Education

GET’M, Got’m, Gone: On the Way Home Now that you’ve seen GET’M, think back to the show. Select the parts that were the silliest. Or most surprising. What sticks in your memory? Why is that?

Choose one moment that you want to remember or to share with others, and capture it in a drawing or act it out.

Additional support for GET’M is provided by A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation; the Kimsey Endowment; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; Anne and Chris Reyes; and the U.S. Department of Education.

Funding for Access and Accommodation Programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

Major support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by David M. Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.

International programming at the Kennedy Center is made possible through the generosity of the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts.

Additional support for GET’M is provided by Dutch Performing Arts.

The contents of this Cuesheet have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

© 2019 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts