Robert Fripp's Diary

Apologia Pro Vita Sua

You can never tell an audience how to behave…

Qualities Of Heckling

Bottom line: you can never tell an audience how to behave. If you try, in a performance culture mediated by commerce, duck. In many GC courses, look out for peanuts and pieces of ripe fruit flying your way, disappearing chairs, metronomes set to unlikely tempi, a failure of electricity and lighting, flashlights, Thumbjam and other apps, singing and clapping unreliably, joining the performance in various ways, helpful comments and suggestions, et al.

Creative
Showing the performer who they are

Automatic
Performance conventions:
Self-referential

Distrust anyone who claims to be contributing to your spiritual life by heckling.

However, if we are refining our personal practice, we may turn this to our advantage. If a person, with a little experience, claims to be “waking us up” by jumping on us with “Are you working on yourself?” we may use this opportunity to strengthen our presence, while forgiving them their presumption.

Very little audience “heckling” in GC is what I recognise as heckling. I do not recall any GC audience participation to be malicious (in my professional life, ill-will is constant).

An example of “genius heckling”: in the Gurdjieff literature, especially at Mr. Gurdjieff’s table in Paris 1946-49, there are accounts of comments directed towards specific people. Also wider comments, seemingly to the room while specifically directed, often followed by gusts of laughter. How might this be in performance?

As an example of conscious heckling: the feel is something like a Zen master “playing” with a novice. A good guide to intentional heckling is available in the records of European court jesters. The jester’s high role was speaking truth to power, this with humour and an implicit trust that the jester/fool was seeking the best for the Power Possessor they served; eg to tell them what others were afraid to say. Historically there are also jesters and holy fools in the Middle and Far East, notably Mulla Nasruddin.

An example of reminding the performer of their responsibility to the performance: Beacon Theatre NYC c. 1978. I booed the star guitarist in an Allstar jazz trio who was clearly impressed with himself.

Quality heckling, undertaken as a piece of work, is intentional and requires:

1. Implicit within the heckling: I Wish for you what I Wish for me.
2. As abottom line, goodwill and, if possible, compassion.
3. The heckler puts themselves in the position of the hecklee.
4. Supports the work of the performer.
5. The heckling is directed and specific, although the direction and specificity may not be what it seems.
6. May be recognised by its seemingly playful, humorous and surprising nature.
7. A wide and broad performance experience, at least two levels above that of the performer. The seven performance levels: domestic, local, regional, national, international, global and interplanetary.

NB          Forms of heckling include the gestural.