I'm probably my biggest critic. I worry that if you spend any quality time reveling in good things then karma will slap you upside the head, so I try to stay as even keel as I'm able.
Neil Patrick HarrisRead
I don't know, on a sitcom, and in theatre especially, you have to really be listening to an audience. And if you're losing them, you can hear the sniffs, and the playbills shuffling and whatnot.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Engaging with an audience is crucial for performers, as their reactions guide the performance.
In this quote, Neil Patrick Harris emphasizes the importance of being attuned to an audience's reactions during a performance, particularly in theatre and sitcoms. He suggests that attentive performers can sense when the audience's interest wanes through subtle cues such as sniffles and the rustling of playbills, indicating the need to adapt and keep the audience engaged.
Themes
AudiencePerformanceTheatreEngagementListening
In practice
Example use cases
During a director's speech about the importance of audience interaction in a play.
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