Shanghai: the high-end night and its codes

A business audience before an audience for a show

Many evenings bring together guests who know one another and who have, that night, something to conclude or to celebrate together. The performance is not the reason for their presence: it punctuates a moment, it opens it or it closes it. That takes nothing away from its role, but it defines it.

In practice, the performance must be able to exist without demanding total silence or forty minutes of unbroken attention. An entrance that catches the eye within a few seconds, a legible climax, a clean ending: that is the architecture which works when the room is in conversation.

Restraint is valued as much as virtuosity. An elegant, disciplined performance that does not seek to command attention at any cost sits better in this kind of evening than an act designed for an audience that came specifically to see a show.

Short, carefully finished formats

The format that comes up most often is the act of a few minutes, set at a precise point in the running order. It readily repeats: two or three appearances spread through the evening hold attention better than a single block, and allow the performance to follow the rhythm of the speeches and the service.

Care given to detail counts for more than the number of artists. A small group perfectly synchronised, in impeccable costumes, leaves a more lasting impression than a larger and less well-drilled line-up. That is a choice to be made when the quotation is first drawn up.

Finally, plan how the performance joins on to the speeches. A room that has just applauded does not listen straight away to the speech that follows: leave a transition — an announcement, a lighting change, a move — between the two, failing which the performance works against the programme it was meant to serve.

Punctuality and preparation are part of the judgement

At this kind of evening, the announced time is a real time. A delay, even a modest one, is read not as a production hazard but as a lack of seriousness, and it reflects on the organiser in front of their guests. The margin is taken in advance: a generous arrival, the set-up done, the artists ready before the doors open.

The preparation expected is of the same order. The music file sent over and tested on the sound system actually being used, a written running order, confirmed durations, an identified person to call the artists with an agreed amount of notice. These are ordinary points; their absence is noticed immediately in this context.

The permissions and the framework applicable at the venue — timings, sound level, the nature of the performance, filming — are confirmed in writing by the venue or by the local organiser. That is the principle to hold to: assume nothing, have it put in writing.

• —An arrival on site well ahead of time, set-up and run-through included.
• —A music file tested on the evening’s sound system, not on a spare speaker.
• —A written running order, with firm times rather than relative cues.
• —A written agreement from the venue on timings, sound and filming.

Language: what is prepared, and what cannot be improvised

An artistic team coming from abroad will not necessarily speak the language of the technical crew, and the crew will not necessarily speak theirs. It is an ordinary production constraint, to be treated as such: it is solved by preparation, not by goodwill on the night.

The most effective solution remains a visual document: a running order with times, simple cues and stage diagrams, handed to everyone before the evening. A plan understood without translation is worth more than a spoken instruction repeated three times over the noise.

Also provide a bilingual person available during the get-in and throughout the evening, and agree on hand signals for the few critical pieces of information: start of the act, extension, stop. Finally, if a text is to be spoken or displayed, have it checked by a native speaker before the event — an approximate turn of phrase in a room of this standard is noticed at once.