What is Variety

What is Variety?

A variety show is entertainment made up of a variety of acts, a theatrical entertainment of successive separate performances (e.g. songs, dances, skits, and acrobatics). Its usually introduced by a host/compere.​

Types of Variety (examples)

• Dance
• Singing
• Magic
• Ventriloquism
• Contortionist
• Acrobatics

Dance

Diversity example

Skills Needed

Confidence​

Projection​

Musicality​

Focus​

Expression​

Physical skills​

Stage presence ​

Character​

Timing

   Maddie Ziegler and Travis Wall

In this duet they had a great connection and trust in each other. They have great musicality and their movement works in direct correlation with the music. They stayed in character throughout the piece and keep their focus. They have great spatial awareness which clearly shows as you don’t see them looking around for each other or to see where they are on stage. There movement is complex and clear. 

Stand-Up Comedy

Michael McIntyre example

Skills Needed

Confidence

Comedic timing

Expression

Good memory

React to the audience

Character 

Stage Presence
Focus

  Doc Brown British Slang 101

All stand up comedians perform differently, however, due to his past careers and achievements, Doc Brown performs funny and clever raps about different topics. The one on the right is from when he guest starred on Russell Howards Good News and performed a rap called ‘British Slang 101’. He’s very good at getting in character (using his voice to show them) and using his facial expression to show what he’s doing. 

I picked these two acts to assess because although they're very different, they carry a lot of the same skills needed to perform. Both acts share many of the technical skills, such as; confidence, expression, focus, character and stage presence. Watching the two acts you can see they get into character during their piece. However, they both do this in different ways. For the stand-up piece, he mainly uses his voice to show his characterisation where as dancers tend to use their facial expression. 

Venue Comparison

                     Sealight Theatre (Worthing college)

 The sealight theatre is a small theatre, with 98 staggered, retractable seats. The stage isn’t raise however, stage blocks can be used. The sealight theatre is for smaller scaled productions compared to the barn theatre. It is good for college productions and different shows however, its size and technical equipment (such as lighting and sound systems) aren’t as high a standard as the barns’. 

The Barn (Southwick)

 The Barn is a small theatre but is larger than the sealight theatre. It has capacity of 152 seats, with 92 on a bank of raked retractable seating. The seating can be arranged in a number of ways depending on the show being performed or the amount of people expecting to come.










I chose to assess these two venues as I have performed in both. These would both be classed as small theatres, however The Barn is the larger of the two. The Barn theatre also has a higher level of equipment available to use.