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[0:01] Chris Lanceley: Hello and welcome back to Mischief Makers podcast. I am your host Chris Lansley. On this season we are exploring all things The Play That Goes Wrong in New York City. The nine-year-plus incredible run of the show here and each week we're talking with a new person who has been intimately involved with the production in those nine years and that brings me to our guest today which is Brent Bateman. Hello.

[0:31] Brent Bateman: Hello. Are you intimately involved with the nine and a half years The Play That Goes Wrong?

[0:39] Chris Lanceley: More intimate than you could know.

[0:43] Brent Bateman: Actually, I think I know quite well because we've been together for most of it. Yeah, it's been a very intimate seven and a half years.

[0:50] Chris Lanceley: Seven and a half years just about.

[0:56] Brent Bateman: Yeah, Brent was the original Robert in the Off-Broadway.

[0:56] Chris Lanceley: Was and is.

[0:56] Brent Bateman: And still is. Remarkably seven and a half years in of playing Robert. Eight shows a week. How are you feeling?

[1:02] Brent Bateman: Remarkably well. I think that it took a long time. It's funny the show hurt more physically early on in the run because I don't think we had yet discovered the pacing required to run a marathon instead of a sprint with The Play That Goes Wrong. And as the years have gone by I don't think it compromises anything in the show any of the stakes but I know how to execute things for me economically and safely and sustainably most importantly.

[1:37] Chris Lanceley: Yeah, but I think at the beginning we had no idea we were running a marathon.

[1:41] Brent Bateman: No, no, how could we?

[1:45] Chris Lanceley: All right, let's get into it. The Play That Goes Wrong is the award-winning hilarious comedy Huffington Post calls it tons of fun for all ages. The funniest play Broadway has ever seen. It's a historical, I mean hysterical hybrid of Monty Python and Sherlock Holmes where everything that can go wrong does. According to Forbes magazine you'll never have a better time in a theater. The Play That Goes Wrong is right for the whole family. Get tickets at BroadwayGoesWrong.com.

[2:20] Chris Lanceley: Welcome back from the ads. I think we had a great idea while the ads were happening.

[2:25] Brent Bateman: Great is debatable.

[2:29] Chris Lanceley: We should do an ad read for The Play That Goes Wrong.

[2:34] Brent Bateman: Actually, I got an ad for The Play That Goes Wrong when I was listening to an episode.

[2:38] Chris Lanceley: You did? Oh that's good marketing.

[2:38] Brent Bateman: It is good marketing. It's very targeted.

[2:38] Chris Lanceley: Incredibly targeted. I'm like I will be there. I will be there. Well done ad.

[2:45] Brent Bateman: Yeah, now playing at New World Stages.

[2:49] Chris Lanceley: That was we just did it. Great. That was the ad. All right. Day one. Play That Goes Wrong. New World Stages. What do you remember from that?

[2:54] Brent Bateman: I remember immediately being overwhelmed with names and not remembering anyone's for the first round of introductions and then I was very smart the second time and I wrote and I wrote them down.

[3:05] Chris Lanceley: Very good.

[3:10] Brent Bateman: You know I like Chris Chris Lansley. Handsome. That's how I remember who he is.

[3:22] Brent Bateman: Honestly the most strong memory that I have from that day is walking into that space and having the entire set already being erected there.

[3:26] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[3:30] Brent Bateman: And how delighted I was that we were going to be able to start working on it immediately. Crucial. The number of shows that I've worked on where that's the case can be counted on one hand.

[3:38] Chris Lanceley: Mm-hmm.

[3:42] Brent Bateman: So what I mean for this show especially crucial but what a treat to be able to be realistically in the world from the get-go.

[3:47] Chris Lanceley: Right.

[3:51] Brent Bateman: And to see it in its resplendency straight from Broadway.

[3:51] Chris Lanceley: Straight from Broadway.

[3:56] Brent Bateman: Painted up. Ready to go. It was that's the nicest it's ever looked.

[3:56] Chris Lanceley: Ever.

[3:56] Brent Bateman: We destroyed it immediately.

[4:00] Chris Lanceley: We did and for seven and a half years now off Broadway we destroy it daily. If we leave a show without destroying something it's a failure.

[4:04] Brent Bateman: I go back in after. You can just give it a kick.

[4:08] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[4:08] Brent Bateman: Is that why you have that baseball bat?

[4:13] Chris Lanceley: That's one of the reasons.

[4:13] Brent Bateman: Okay. All right. We won't explore the rest of the reasons.

[4:20] Chris Lanceley: So we were obviously both in that original off-Broadway cast. Together I was Jonathan. I now play Bean. Have played Bean for most of my time with the run.

[4:24] Brent Bateman: Most of the run I guess at this point.

[4:29] Chris Lanceley: Do you remember do you remember your first impressions of me and others in the cast? Because I remember my first impression of you as being very intimidating.

[4:33] Brent Bateman: Do you get that? Do people say that to you?

[4:38] Chris Lanceley: Maybe. I think I'm a big man with a big beard and a deep voice.

[4:47] Brent Bateman: Yeah. I think that might be the case. I think that facade doesn't hold up very well once you start talking to me.

[4:53] Chris Lanceley: I don't know that I don't know that I am a very intimidating person. I think that one on one. I think I'm an idiot.

[5:02] Brent Bateman: That slides and slips away.

[5:02] Chris Lanceley: Yeah. Maybe.

[5:07] Brent Bateman: Yeah. But when you're in a room full of people you pick your time to speak. You pick your words and especially in those first days of rehearsal when there's just so many new people and you're playing a character like Robert. I feel like you set the tone for the production a little bit in those first those early days. You're playing such a big role and you were kind of stoic in that space.

[5:22] Brent Bateman: You know what Chris? I'll be honest with you. I think some of that is and that's all washed away now but some of that I think was being afraid. I think that that's one of my defenses is to go a little stiff and and be more of an observer than a doer in certain circumstances until I'm comfortable enough to to be the clown.

[5:52] Chris Lanceley: Right.

[5:52] Brent Bateman: That's amazing because that didn't didn't read at all and I feel like it kind of read as you setting a standard. Like you would take it felt like you were taking things very seriously in that space.

[6:04] Chris Lanceley: I mean obviously as time goes on you and we spend time in the dressing room and the the number of peripheral people in the room diminishes. We all get to know each other a little better but I think you were such a positive effect on that dress on that rehearsal process because of that.

[6:16] Brent Bateman: By accident maybe. Everyone was head down get to it.

[6:21] Chris Lanceley: Well and some of that was was me doing just that for myself because the rehearsal timeline wasn't very long. It seems luxurious but when you weigh it against other projects maybe. But you know just over two weeks isn't a very long time to put up a show that's this complicated and so some of that was just being actually focused and right present and ready for work.

[6:46] Brent Bateman: I'm glad to hear that because I was I was also incredibly nervous for those. I was very nervous. I remember reading the you know this guy's been on Broadway. I hadn't been on Broadway. I haven't even been close to Broadway. This was the closest I'd been to Broadway. It was terrifying.

[7:01] Brent Bateman: So it's interesting to hear that you were kind of feeling say well I imagine everyone was to be honest.

[7:06] Chris Lanceley: I think so. I mean you want you want the show to be so good.

[7:10] Brent Bateman: Yeah.

[7:10] Chris Lanceley: You know you have your expectations for how funny it can be and so you look around you're like well they can do it they can do it. Okay can I do it?

[7:14] Brent Bateman: Yeah.

[7:19] Chris Lanceley: You know am I am I going to be able to do this justice?

[7:25] Brent Bateman: Yeah.

[7:25] Chris Lanceley: And you you are Robert is right at the top of the show. You bang on that door and it's right away. We've got to set the we've got to set the tone for the murder at Havisham Manor in a very realistic way.

[7:33] Brent Bateman: And we spend a lot of time on those those early scenes to kind of set the tone of the show and make sure that tone is set right.

[7:41] Chris Lanceley: Oh it's so important you know before you know things go wrong before the show even starts of course but once once the murder is underway that's as long as that's established well I think the things that go wrong work a lot better and and the way to establish that is sort of on Robert and Dennis at the top of the show making sure there's enough intrigue and and murder in the air.

[8:03] Brent Bateman: Right.

[8:10] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[8:10] Brent Bateman: I mean those that's when the fewest things are going wrong. So the little things here and there.

[8:14] Chris Lanceley: Excusable things.

[8:14] Brent Bateman: Yeah.

[8:20] Chris Lanceley: Yeah so we can really set the tone of the murder mystery and really delve into that and make it that as real as possible and then that's the foundations for the show I suppose where things then fall.

[8:27] Brent Bateman: If I could circle back you and I didn't really speak very much on day one but my impression of you was this thank God we've got a real Brit in the house because now we have some authenticity and I can do stupid things like consult you for any script things that I have questions about any pronunciations any lilting that sort of stuff you can you can call foul or not and I think that I gave you that license right off the bat.

[9:03] Chris Lanceley: Yeah I think a few people did yeah it's been nice to be able to just hey that sound just you know you can just switch it up but people are giving me license for that I did it with you I had a self-tape that I had to do an American this week and hurtling yeah that's the way I've been working on it really you've been drilling but it's a T yeah you say you say hurtling hurtling yeah hurtling this is fascinating yeah this is this is good content so we were both in that original company through the years it has now kind of there were 12 people in the original company there are eight people in the cast and then in the principal cast and then for understudies of those 12 people it's me you and Damien Brett that's right who are left you're playing Robert as you did originally I'm playing Chris I originally played Jonathan and day and Damien is a cover for five male tracks so seven and a half years we've been doing this show together do you feel like your performance has evolved through those seven and a half years?

[10:00] Brent Bateman: I hope so just the necessity of cast changes you know you can't keep playing things the same way when new blood comes in you have to sort of meet them halfway but more than that I think that the discoveries continue to roll in from show to show from week to week certain moments all of a sudden come into focus that were never in focus before and I'll go out of focus or go out of focus I think that that's the testament to how brilliant this script is how brilliant the text is that after seven and a half years of playing it eight times a week there are still discoveries to be made there are still and it doesn't require any any changes to the text the text is there it's just you can find new ways and maybe and maybe those moments have been there all along and you just accidentally stumble upon them but there's always so much to learn from doing this many jokes in a show.

[11:15] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[11:20] Brent Bateman: And the audience shifting I was I mean that kind of what is the biggest drive of evolution and adaptation and change in the show is it would you say it's people leaving and rejoining the cast understudies coming in and out the audience shifting and changing every night and for us the audience shifting from a pre pandemic audience to a post pandemic.

[11:37] Brent Bateman: Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because those are two very different experiences it's almost as though from the get-go the fourth wall doesn't exist in our show right and you know there are moments in the show that are designed to open that up to speak directly to the audience for for being anyway and for Max I guess in a way in his own little flirty way but those like you're describing Max's flirty but those it wasn't pre pandemic it felt like those moments were more defined post pandemic it's like we're performing the show in people's living rooms yeah and and they're allowed to just talk to us the entire time we just for this matinee that I'm meeting you after someone came in with an entire chicken shawarma platter amazing in the third row and enjoyed that and our entire theater was shawarma-rific that's I mean it smelled worse it's it has smelled worse it was it smelled delicious at first yeah and then it really settled in to sort of a BO oniony the huge yeah yeah new world stages so with with things naturally shifting and I completely agree about audiences pre pandemic and before you said that it's you said that it's like the living room there is no there's a lot of people who have no conception of the fact that this is a live performance of this people on stage this this is a very general statement but I don't think it's just the theater I think people have forgotten how to be in public with each other yeah I think people have forgotten how to behave and you see it in this city it's magnified because we're just around more people all the time but you see it on the subway you see it walking down the sidewalk people just don't know how to be around each other anymore no or want to know maybe that's it so there's this kind of external drivers like that like that understudies coming in swings all of those sorts of things are there any internal drivers do you ever find yourself having to kind of keep things fresh from an internal standpoint every show every single performance I you know this I I take the at pre-show places which is 15 before curtain I go backstage and I sit in the same chair for those 15 minutes and some of that is just sort of a little meditative zoning in listening to the people filter into the theater a sound that I love and and then I always give myself at least one assignment for that performance and it can be a little thing like don't botch the timing on the coat rack don't write little things like that or sometimes they're bigger things like really remember to double down on the murder mystery saying or or really remember that each thing that goes wrong is the last thing that's that's gonna go wrong and that everything else is going to be.

[14:44] Brent Bateman: You know, the notes that have been drilled into us over the years, I like to take a moment before I hit the stage and revisit some of them every now and then. And in that way, I think that keeps my performance, at least in those moments, but I think overall a little more fresh and a little more in the moment. And the show requires, for certain roles, a lot of focus. And if I drop the ball on focus, I'm lost out there and potentially injured and potentially injuring someone else. So taking a moment just to really get into a routine, and it's not that I'm necessarily superstitious about my routine. In college, we had to take a P.E. credit. And in Alaska, there weren't that many great P.E. credits to get.

They were all like indoor stuff, you know, so that you wouldn't freeze and die. And one of them was bowling. So I took bowling for my P.E. credit, which was great because you could drink beer in college. But our professor was a former professional bowler. And he was like, you know what the trick to bowling is? I was like, that's why I'm here. Please tell me, Professor Bowler. He's like, no matter what your routine is, before you let go of that ball, do your routine exactly the same every time. So, you know, you've got the dots on the floor. Stand on the same dot. If you want to wiggle your butt, wiggle your butt. If you want to dry your hands, dry your hands, but do it in the same sequence every single time.

And eventually that reliability of that habit starts becoming reliable when you're releasing the ball as well. The same is true for really great dart players. And I sort of plug that into this show as well. There's so much chaos and there's so many circumstances that I can't control on that stage. But what I can do is prepare the same every time so that I can negotiate the chaos and not control it, but be better prepared for it when it does come, you know, like be in control of as much as I can so that I'm ready for the things that I can't control.

[17:04] Chris Lanceley: Right. That's, that's interesting because I have seen, I've seen you do that and that is a very kind of inside out approach to maintaining focus and keeping things fresh throughout the long run. It's interesting if you feel the importance of that after 100 shows is different from the importance of that after 2000 shows or the effect of it is different.

[17:25] Brent Bateman: The effect, I can't say the importance for me gets more important as time goes on. Like the amount of focus and sort of doubling down on what we're really there doing becomes more and more important because I think the longer that you sit on the same project, the more slippery it becomes. You know, either you're holding onto it too tight or you've completely lost the thing that you started out doing. So I think doubling down on that focus, it's essential for me. I find it difficult in a long run to have it be opening night every show. You know, that's an easy thing to say and a hard thing to do.

[18:08] Chris Lanceley: Right. It's, it's the part of that that kind of got me is that I feel like losing focus during a show is very different a hundred shows in compared to 2000 shows in. See, that's the thing you were talking about losing focus on stage being, it's really hard to pull back and get back. Um, I think because for me it's the same, I think it's cause I'm far more comfortable now on stage than I was then a hundred, a hundred shows in, I would have panicked and immediately been grasping for everything, regain my focus very quickly. Now I feel too, I feel so comfortable losing focus. Yeah. I mean, I, I pull it back. Obviously you have to, but when you feel so comfortable, you can, you can slip away and then realize that you have to pull it back.

Um, you have to put some effort into pulling it back. The panic doesn't do that for you. Is it the same as like when you go, like when you go on a long drive and you're like, you arrive at your destination and then you can't remember any part of the drive that you took? Does that ever happen on stage?

[19:12] Brent Bateman: It's absolutely happened. And I think, um, wait, did I wait for that? Did I do that at the right time? Must have. I'm thinking about how you, that's your process is to get out there every day and sit there in the audience and, you know, think about a few of the most important notes I have found with time that I have to do the, almost the opposite of that. And it's the same as you're, it's a routine. It's something that I have to do and do the same way every night. But I like to think as little as possible immediately beforehand. My only thought is right before Chris Bean opens the door for his first entrance as inspector Carter. And I think this is going to be the best thing anyone has ever seen. The Murder at Havisham Manor. Not the play. The Murder at Havisham Manor. I think this is going to be incredible. I've nailed it. These lucky people to see my incredible show right now. It's the most important thing to me.

[20:01] Chris Lanceley: That makes a lot of sense for Bean. I think that that probably speaks a lot to not necessarily our differences as actors, but differences in the requirements of the character. I think, you know, he has a million thoughts. Bean has way too many thoughts. I don't know that Robert does.

[20:16] Brent Bateman: I can't have my own to it. That's, I can't. Early on I would, I was very anxious. I get notes and I think, well, they think I'm terrible. And I carry all of that on stage with me. The more I've gone, I've learned that I, I can't do that. I have to leave space for his thoughts and if they're minor in there, that's when things start going.

[20:33] Chris Lanceley: Yeah, sure. Fascinating.

[20:35] Brent Bateman: Yeah. And that's probably what leads to things like that. We're driving, wait, did I give that line? I must've given that line. We've carried on. Nobody stopped. Yeah. Is that what moment to moment acting is? Maybe that's, maybe that's what they meant by that. Who knows?

[20:50] Chris Lanceley: Who knows? Acting, who knows anything about it?

[20:51] Brent Bateman: Acting. I certainly don't. That's why I'm doing this whole thing. I should ask somebody who, professional. We are approaching a break and I have been asking everybody a mischievous question as we go into the break. So I'm going to, I'm going to throw one of those at you right now. Okay. Um, you have three options, right? This is a lot of them. I get to choose my mischievous question.

[21:15] Brent Bateman: No, you don't. Although I do have two spares. Um, I'll do the spares actually. What, what does your costume smell like?

[21:23] Brent Bateman: Uh, sort of a blend. Now keep in mind that I wear like five sheep's worth of wool in this show and I sweat. My costume smells like fresh baked bread and cat food.

[21:38] Chris Lanceley: Fresh baked bread is pretty good.

[21:39] Brent Bateman: Yeah. But, but, but equal parts.

[21:40] Chris Lanceley: Equal parts together. I don't think they'd be great. And shout out to the wardrobe department. They, they do great work.

[21:46] Brent Bateman: Oh, they nail it. They nail it. They, they wash my wool in cat food and

[21:54] Chris Lanceley: Yeah. Oh, so they're deliberately sabotaging you.

[21:57] Brent Bateman: They must be. It wouldn't, the smell's not coming from me, clearly.

[22:00] Chris Lanceley: No, it's not you. Can't be you. Can't be years, seven and a half years worth of sweat and musk all over the costume. Other people's spit.

[22:07] Brent Bateman: Um, acting juice.

[22:09] Chris Lanceley: Is that what we call it now? Okay, good. Acting juice. Yeah. It's covered in acting juice, which smells of bread and

[22:15] Brent Bateman: It's delicious.

[22:16] Chris Lanceley: cat. Um, we also, have we touched on this? The fact that you have a newborn, relatively newborn infant.

[22:23] Brent Bateman: We haven't mentioned it yet.

[22:24] Chris Lanceley: We haven't mentioned it at all because we talked about it beforehand. Um, if he, Orson, um, was to be cast in an infant production of the play that goes wrong, would he play Ron?

[22:33] Brent Bateman: I would love to see, first I would love to see that.

[22:35] Chris Lanceley: Yeah. Probably be better than us.

[22:36] Brent Bateman: Well, I tell you my son, like many toddlers loves destroying things. So that follows for Robert. Um, but he also, here's the thing. He likes to do something wrong knowingly and then smile about it. He's a max. He's a max.

[22:58] Chris Lanceley: Yeah. Yeah. And I, that's what I'd have given for my son who is five, six months younger than yours.

[23:04] Brent Bateman: Six months. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think all toddlers are max. I mean, I think that says a lot about max. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the third and the one I elected to be my, my best best one, let's have it. Um, is, um, so there's, there's three options here either. And this is, I guess this is for my replacement. Say we, we know David McElwee, we've done an episode with him already. He's wonderful, great person, great fit for the direction of him. Very kind, just lovely person. So it's not him specifically, but this is a potential bean replacement. What it could have been if it wasn't him. Um, option one, incredible performer, 10 out of 10, every single night, consistent, amazing on stage, always gets the laugh.

Timing is on point. Audiences love him backstage in the dressing room, unpleasant to be around. He smells he's obnoxious. He's rude. He takes up space. He does video calls after half hour. Option one, option two, average performer kind of, you know, solid just does the job, gets it done. Not amazing anybody, but not ruining the show either. Offstage dressing room, bland, doesn't joke around, sits there. He's like an energy vampire from, uh, from that TV show. You know, he just sucks all the energy out of the room. Um, option three awful performer, terrible or always missing their cues like late to the stage of beats slow on all of the timing or early, um, forgets props, absolute nightmare on stage.

Um, but there were riot backstage, hilarious, incredibly funny. They're the life of the party. They always bring beer to the theater and have a drink after the show. Like my heart. I mean, this sounds like a great person offstage. That's, that's who they are. Best friend immediately. That kind of person brings up the whole atmosphere in the dressing room. Which of these three

[25:01] Brent Bateman: Oh my God, Chris, what a terrible question to ask. It's terrible. Um, I don't want to work with people who aren't fun to work with. So option one is right out. However, I don't want to work with people who don't do good work. Option three is right out. So am I choosing the middle of the road? Boring person? Blanderson. Boring. Oh, that's awful. That's worse than the other two. See, it's tough. What kind of question is this? I know it's, it's five on five out of five, five out of 10 on stage, five out of five backstage, 10 and a one. It's just, here's the thing. You can't in another production in a different theater, you can get away with a poor personality, I think better than you can in our space.

We all share a very, the men all share a very close dressing room. We're right on top of each other. There's no hiding a bad attitude in that room. If it were in a different space, I would go talent and let this person go. And yeah, just sit in their star dressing room. That's fine. That's fine. As long as you're bringing it on the stage, we're good. In our space, that would be, it would never work. We'll talk about that after the break as well. So just a follow up, um, in the seven and a half years we've done the show, uh, which performers that we've worked with fit each of those three? I'm joking. I'm joking. I'm not going to make you do that. Well, Chris Lansley is a little bit of all three. Yeah.

[26:43] Chris Lanceley: Which part specifically?

[26:43] Brent Bateman: Welcome back, Bram Bateman. Thank you for dealing with that incredibly mischievous question.

[26:47] Chris Lanceley: No, thank you for having me back to the break. I don't think, I don't think I answered it. I mean, I think you did. I think you went with two, um, a bland actor and a bland person, but that doesn't that sound awful when you say it sounds awful in our space and let's talk about the space. We're in a new world stages. Um, it's on 50th, uh, an eighth, uh, in Manhattan, Midtown Manhattan. Uh, it's kind of, it's a basement, kind of a basement.

[27:12] Brent Bateman: It is a basement. It used to be, um, Madison square garden too. Yeah. And then it was, and then they converted it some time ago into a, like a second run movie theater complex. Um, and then into, and then into a multi performance arts performance space and off Broadway subterranean mini, mini mall, zero windows, air drawn from the plaza or above it to a fresh, fresh air from the plaza. Um, and just, uh, not incandescent lights. What are they called? Fluorescent fluorescent lights, incandescent fluorescents always above us. That's what we get. Um, it's, it's a tough space to work in for me at least. That's what I found. It's, it's hard. You vitamin D is, um, supplements is crucial because you don't get any down there. You don't air a lot. Yeah.

[28:01] Brent Bateman: Yeah. The days get long sometimes for sure. And you are always in a basement. You're always in a basement with everything that goes with that.

[28:06] Chris Lanceley: Yeah. Yeah. Um, it's a challenging space and it's not a big space either because there's, there's five different performance spaces in there. We share right now we share, um, the space with Heather's and spelling B, which are two big musicals. We have the bubble show that's been there for longer than we have. Um, and the gazillion bubble show has given the full name. Uh, and a maze with, um, uh, Jamie Allen, Jamie Allen, a, uh, illusionist show. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and we actually share a hallway with them, which is theater five in that space. Our dressing rooms are next to each other and the entrance to their stage is on the hallway that we walked down to get to our space. It's a very cramped space. The dressing room is made to fit what? Six people.

[28:51] Brent Bateman: I would say probably six. Yeah. We have to attend 10 in our side. And then there's, um, and then our wardrobe apartment department that same space as well. Yeah. Um, and it's tight quarters. I think we have 32 inches, um, to our dressing room space each. Maybe it's less, actually. It might not be that much. It's not that much. That does sound quite big. Um, and we're all just crammed in there. And I think to me that helps the show a hundred percent in many ways and other ways it doesn't.

[29:27] Brent Bateman: The room isn't doing great. At least there are no secrets.

[29:32] Chris Lanceley: Yeah. You know exactly what's not going well.

[29:35] Brent Bateman: Yes. And you can make adjustments in your life accordingly.

[29:38] Chris Lanceley: Yeah. And you can reach out and help people. And you know, it's all out there. You can't avoid it at New World Stages in our dressing room.

[29:45] Brent Bateman: But the back and forth in that dressing room, it feels like a writer's room to me sometimes. It really does.

[29:52] Chris Lanceley: We have some very clever, funny people in the show.

[29:55] Brent Bateman: Always do, from the beginning. And as people have left and come back, or not, the new blood brings the same quick wit and lively spirits in there.

[30:11] Chris Lanceley: It's a joy every day.

[30:13] Brent Bateman: It's a collection of very funny people. And if somebody's spirits are low, we can collectively kind of lift the room.

[30:19] Chris Lanceley: Yeah. It feels like we do that.

[30:22] Brent Bateman: We play music every day. And it's always an homage to whoever's birthday it is.

[30:26] Chris Lanceley: Musical birthday.

[30:28] Brent Bateman: Yeah. We've learned a lot about different artists that we probably wouldn't have paid attention to.

[30:32] Chris Lanceley: Who was today?

[30:34] Brent Bateman: Today was Gladys. Oh, I can't remember her last name. She's one of the singers in the Marvelettes.

[30:40] Chris Lanceley: One of an all-girl Motown group from back in the day.

[30:44] Brent Bateman: We go all over the place.

[30:46] Chris Lanceley: I was trying to kind of think up some historical bits from the dressing room.

[30:51] Brent Bateman: The first one I thought of was when Ellie Macpherson got married and brought back the party favors from her wedding.

[30:59] Chris Lanceley: Edible...

[31:00] Brent Bateman: This is terrible.

[31:01] Chris Lanceley: Blueberry... What were they?

[31:02] Brent Bateman: They were chocolate-covered blueberries.

[31:05] Chris Lanceley: But they were dyed...

[31:06] Brent Bateman: The chocolate was dyed blue.

[31:07] Chris Lanceley: Blue.

[31:08] Brent Bateman: Yes.

[31:09] Chris Lanceley: And we were all delighted to have these delicious treats.

[31:12] Brent Bateman: They tasted great.

[31:13] Chris Lanceley: And some of us...

[31:14] Brent Bateman: I took a lot home.

[31:16] Chris Lanceley: And that blue dye translated into crayon green...

[31:25] Brent Bateman: Poops.

[31:26] Chris Lanceley: Poops.

[31:27] Brent Bateman: For everyone in the dressing room.

[31:29] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[31:30] Brent Bateman: It took us a while to bring it up.

[31:32] Chris Lanceley: It was alarming.

[31:33] Brent Bateman: And you say...

[31:34] Chris Lanceley: Everyone was alarmed by it.

[31:35] Brent Bateman: And you say green poops.

[31:36] Chris Lanceley: And people think, oh, well, who hasn't seen a green poop?

[31:40] Brent Bateman: I'm talking about Crayola crayon green in texture and color.

[31:47] Chris Lanceley: Waxy and...

[31:48] Brent Bateman: Green texture.

[31:49] Chris Lanceley: Green texture.

[31:50] Brent Bateman: Yeah.

[31:51] Chris Lanceley: So that's...

[31:53] Brent Bateman: Shocking.

[31:54] Chris Lanceley: It was shocking.

[31:55] Brent Bateman: And I was moments away from going to the hospital.

[31:59] Chris Lanceley: Yeah, I was very concerned.

[32:00] Brent Bateman: Until I realized what I'd eaten.

[32:01] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[32:02] Brent Bateman: And I remember being raised in the dressing room and everyone being, oh, thank God.

[32:05] Chris Lanceley: I'm not the only one.

[32:06] Brent Bateman: That's what it is. It's not just me.

[32:08] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[32:10] Brent Bateman: Weirdly, that was the only one I could think of.

[32:12] Chris Lanceley: But I wanted to bring that up to kind of hopefully trigger our memories and bring some more up.

[32:16] Brent Bateman: I don't know. Just...

[32:17] Chris Lanceley: It's overwhelming to think of all of the specific shenanigans that go on back there.

[32:23] Brent Bateman: But, you know, there's...

[32:26] Chris Lanceley: There was all of the...

[32:27] Brent Bateman: You know, when Matt Harrington was around, there was all of the McGruff the crime dog stuff.

[32:31] Chris Lanceley: There was...

[32:33] Brent Bateman: Yeah. We have a McGruff doll in the dressing room.

[32:36] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[32:37] Brent Bateman: Yeah.

[32:38] Chris Lanceley: I don't even know how that began.

[32:39] Brent Bateman: Something random.

[32:40] Chris Lanceley: Something random that happened.

[32:41] Brent Bateman: Yeah.

[32:42] Chris Lanceley: And then we got a McGruff the crime dog.

[32:44] Brent Bateman: We listen to the music a lot.

[32:46] Chris Lanceley: Yeah, that's true.

[32:47] Brent Bateman: That's true.

[32:48] Chris Lanceley: I think that's what started it.

[32:49] Brent Bateman: That's probably what triggered it.

[32:50] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[32:51] Brent Bateman: That's what started it. McGruff the crime dog has an album of songs.

[32:53] Chris Lanceley: It does.

[32:54] Brent Bateman: That's amazing.

[32:55] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[32:56] Brent Bateman: We also have a repair...

[32:57] Chris Lanceley: A song that...

[32:58] Brent Bateman: I don't even know.

[32:59] Chris Lanceley: I actually can't say the name of it.

[33:00] Brent Bateman: Yeah.

[33:01] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[33:02] Brent Bateman: Things to do.

[33:03] Chris Lanceley: Yes.

[33:04] Brent Bateman: I guess is the name of the song.

[33:05] Chris Lanceley: But the first word things is different.

[33:07] Brent Bateman: And that has a history of whenever it's played, it leads to disaster in the show.

[33:12] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[33:13] Brent Bateman: And not just small disaster, but like big, big problems.

[33:16] Chris Lanceley: Like it's actually a curse.

[33:17] Brent Bateman: Yeah. The song...

[33:19] Chris Lanceley: I was very excited to introduce it to the dressing room and people hated it immediately.

[33:23] Brent Bateman: They said, this is a bad song.

[33:24] Chris Lanceley: No one wants to listen to it.

[33:25] Brent Bateman: It is a bad song.

[33:26] Chris Lanceley: It is objectively quite a bad song and badly recorded.

[33:29] Brent Bateman: Immediately that show though, I think that was...

[33:32] Chris Lanceley: We got evacuated from the theater, I think.

[33:34] Brent Bateman: Yeah.

[33:35] Chris Lanceley: That wasn't manhole explosion day.

[33:37] Brent Bateman: I think that might've been a different fire alarm.

[33:39] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[33:40] Brent Bateman: And then after six, five years, I brought it back again a couple of...

[33:44] Chris Lanceley: A few months ago and the same thing happened.

[33:46] Brent Bateman: We got evacuated for a smoke in a loading dock or something.

[33:50] Chris Lanceley: I mean, coincidence.

[33:51] Brent Bateman: Yeah.

[33:52] Chris Lanceley: And if it's not that big, it's a prop not doing what it's supposed to or a set piece not doing what it's supposed to.

[33:56] Brent Bateman: Right.

[33:58] Chris Lanceley: That song is associated with a lot of disasters in the show.

[34:02] Brent Bateman: Anyway, speaking of disasters, we both had children recently.

[34:05] Chris Lanceley: That's true.

[34:06] Brent Bateman: Yeah.

[34:07] Chris Lanceley: And that's a good segue.

[34:08] Brent Bateman: I remember you and Katie announced that you were having a baby and I remember a few months in, we were ready as well and saying to you at a bar, I wish we could have kids around the same time.

[34:24] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[34:25] Brent Bateman: And magically...

[34:26] Chris Lanceley: Magically.

[34:27] Brent Bateman: It's just magic.

[34:28] Chris Lanceley: Because that's how it happens.

[34:29] Brent Bateman: It's just magic.

[34:30] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[34:32] Brent Bateman: You'll have a child.

[34:33] Chris Lanceley: Yes.

[34:34] Brent Bateman: You'll have a child.

[34:35] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[34:36] Brent Bateman: So that all worked out and our kids are five months apart, six months apart?

[34:37] Chris Lanceley: Just about, yeah.

[34:38] Brent Bateman: Just about five or six.

[34:39] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[34:40] Brent Bateman: And it's amazing.

[34:41] Chris Lanceley: It is amazing because they play together.

[34:42] Brent Bateman: They play together.

[34:43] Chris Lanceley: And it's so sweet.

[34:44] Brent Bateman: Yeah.

[34:45] Chris Lanceley: We also did a photo shoot on the stage.

[34:46] Brent Bateman: We did.

[34:47] Chris Lanceley: Which will be coming out in June.

[34:48] Brent Bateman: A Father's Day thing.

[34:49] Chris Lanceley: We dressed them up.

[34:50] Brent Bateman: We dressed them up, matching.

[34:51] Chris Lanceley: They matched.

[34:53] Brent Bateman: And we were matching, kind of.

[34:55] Chris Lanceley: We were both wearing our wedding suits that we both bought from tweedmakers.com.

[34:59] Brent Bateman: Hey.

[35:00] Chris Lanceley: Hey.

[35:01] Brent Bateman: If you've got a need.

[35:02] Chris Lanceley: A need for tweed.

[35:03] Brent Bateman: Yes.

[35:04] Chris Lanceley: Tweedmaker.com.

[35:05] Brent Bateman: Tweedmaker.com.

[35:06] Chris Lanceley: This is Mischief Makers Podcast.

[35:07] Brent Bateman: So really, there's a collaboration that they should probably make there.

[35:11] Chris Lanceley: And we're starting it.

[35:13] Brent Bateman: But it's been great.

[35:15] Chris Lanceley: How have you found that having a relatively newborn child has changed your approach to being a performer?

[35:22] Brent Bateman: You know, being a parent is a beautiful thing.

[35:32] Chris Lanceley: But here's the truth.

[35:34] Brent Bateman: It's so hard.

[35:35] Chris Lanceley: It's so hard.

[35:36] Brent Bateman: It's so hard.

[35:37] Chris Lanceley: It's so hard.

[35:38] Brent Bateman: You know what?

[35:39] Chris Lanceley: It never stops.

[35:40] Brent Bateman: No.

[35:41] Chris Lanceley: And they always need something.

[35:42] Brent Bateman: They need something.

[35:43] Chris Lanceley: Middle of the night.

[35:44] Brent Bateman: They need it.

[35:45] Chris Lanceley: Something.

[35:46] Brent Bateman: It never stops.

[35:47] Chris Lanceley: It's thrilling and rewarding and exhausting.

[35:48] Brent Bateman: And all of those things happen at the same time.

[35:50] Chris Lanceley: I love it.

[35:52] Brent Bateman: I regret none of it.

[35:58] Chris Lanceley: I love my little boy.

[35:59] Brent Bateman: It's hard.

[36:00] Chris Lanceley: It's hard to be a parent.

[36:03] Brent Bateman: It's hard to be a working parent.

[36:06] Chris Lanceley: It's hard to be a working parent with a partner who's on a different schedule than you are.

[36:13] Brent Bateman: Mm-hmm.

[36:14] Chris Lanceley: Totally.

[36:15] Brent Bateman: Katie, my wife, I found that our relationship, not that it would be strange, but any problems that we ever had were because she tends to work more of a nine-to-five kind of a job and I'm working this job.

[36:21] Chris Lanceley: So where do our common hours overlap?

[36:26] Brent Bateman: And the truth is there aren't that many of them, even less so now that we've got Orson.

[36:39] Chris Lanceley: We sort of are passing him back and forth and that's kind of what our life is right now.

[36:46] Brent Bateman: Yeah.

[36:47] Chris Lanceley: And it's great that we're able to do that.

[36:49] Brent Bateman: It's on paper. It's lovely that he's able to spend most of his time with a parent, but that just means that we don't have any time of our own.

[36:57] Chris Lanceley: And that's difficult.

[37:02] Brent Bateman: That's difficult.

[37:03] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[37:05] Brent Bateman: And I think that's just a part.

[37:07] Chris Lanceley: Say goodbye to that for a little while and mourn the loss of that part of your life for a little while until they grow up a little bit and they're able to be a little bit more self-sustaining like when they're 30, I guess.

[37:19] Brent Bateman: Yeah.

[37:20] Chris Lanceley: Whatever that is.

[37:22] Brent Bateman: If we wish hard enough.

[37:27] Chris Lanceley: I'm thinking about something specific to me.

[37:31] Brent Bateman: When I took a little break from being to play Robert while you were playing Santa Claus.

[37:37] Chris Lanceley: That's right.

[37:38] Brent Bateman: We didn't talk about that.

[37:39] Chris Lanceley: We haven't yet.

[37:40] Brent Bateman: But when I came back, and this was like shortly after we had our son, I had to change my whole approach to playing Chris Bean.

[37:46] Chris Lanceley: I didn't realize I was going through this journey, but in January I started to play Chris Bean again and it didn't feel right.

[37:54] Brent Bateman: I don't know. Bringing the same kind of frustration and anger and drive and energy and desperation to get to the end of the show didn't feel right anymore.

[38:06] Chris Lanceley: I couldn't just use all the same tools I already had.

[38:12] Brent Bateman: I didn't realize I was doing that.

[38:13] Chris Lanceley: We talked.

[38:14] Brent Bateman: I felt more like Bean today.

[38:16] Chris Lanceley: I would say that to you after the show sometimes.

[38:18] Brent Bateman: I feel like I'm there now just as I'm about to take a month off and leave the show entirely, but I had to change it.

[38:24] Chris Lanceley: Did you find that, that being a dad changed something about how you...

[38:28] Brent Bateman: I don't know that it changed anything.

[38:31] Chris Lanceley: Of course it did.

[38:32] Brent Bateman: I don't know if I can perceive what it changed in me about this performance, but what did change just sort of in my heart was the number of things that I no longer consider important.

[38:46] Chris Lanceley: There are a lot of things that really drove me nuts and compared to my boy, they're just not important.

[38:54] Brent Bateman: It's just not worth worrying about.

[38:58] Chris Lanceley: If anything, I think having Orson in my life now has made me more brave as an actor and I've noticed it in auditions, in self tapes.

[39:12] Brent Bateman: I'm not afraid to look a fool because it just doesn't matter.

[39:18] Chris Lanceley: It actually doesn't matter at all.

[39:19] Brent Bateman: What matters is him and his wellbeing.

[39:23] Chris Lanceley: My dignity doesn't matter and I think a lot of dads probably feel like their dignity has been gone from the get-go.

[39:36] Brent Bateman: You saying that makes me think, yeah, maybe that was the issue with bringing that much...

[39:42] Chris Lanceley: That was my thing.

[39:43] Brent Bateman: I just mentioned it was standing in front of the door before that entrance and thinking, this is the most important thing in the world to me.

[39:48] Chris Lanceley: This show going well, to me, Chris Bean, this is the most important thing in the world to me.

[39:51] Brent Bateman: Maybe after having our child, Arlo, I couldn't buy into that idea.

[39:58] Chris Lanceley: A little trickier to tap into it.

[40:00] Brent Bateman: Yeah.

[40:01] Chris Lanceley: The passion and frustration and anger.

[40:02] Brent Bateman: So you say that you found it again.

[40:04] Chris Lanceley: What got you there?

[40:07] Brent Bateman: It's actually...

[40:10] Chris Lanceley: It's the same thing.

[40:11] Brent Bateman: It's those same emotions and feelings.

[40:13] Chris Lanceley: I just had to take a different approach to accessing them, I think.

[40:19] Brent Bateman: It now feels a little more playful, a little more...

[40:25] Chris Lanceley: The frustration seems a little less pointed and I'm not giving a great answer to this question because I think I'm still kind of trying to explore it myself.

[40:36] Brent Bateman: What changed?

[40:37] Chris Lanceley: But you know it when you've landed on it.

[40:39] Brent Bateman: I do.

[40:40] Chris Lanceley: Because I know this because you and I talked about it after a couple of the shows recently where you've been like, yeah, that was it, that was it.

[40:48] Brent Bateman: I think it was almost a misdirection for me to try and lead from that place of this is going to be incredible and if it's not, I'm going to feel these things.

[41:00] Chris Lanceley: It's almost like now a childlike belief that it's going to be incredible.

[41:04] Brent Bateman: And then when it's not, that frustration comes from the individual moments rather than kind of...

[41:11] Chris Lanceley: I think Bean has all these thoughts and he expects a little bit of things to go wrong, a little bit of things not to go his way.

[41:19] Brent Bateman: I think maybe I've pulled away that expectation and it's now spontaneous.

[41:24] Chris Lanceley: I don't know. I just kind of fallen on this.

[41:26] Brent Bateman: Yeah, it sounds like maybe there is something sort of...

[41:28] Chris Lanceley: I would never have thought about this before, but maybe, I mean, we're just spitballing here.

[41:32] Brent Bateman: It seems like there is something very childlike in some of the naivety of Bean.

[41:41] Chris Lanceley: You know, I don't know if it needs much more elaboration than that, but just his expectations are very immature.

[41:54] Brent Bateman: You know, there's nothing based in actual reality.

[42:00] Chris Lanceley: It's an interesting thing to meditate on.

[42:01] Brent Bateman: Yeah, it is.

[42:02] Chris Lanceley: I will be thinking about this now.

[42:03] Brent Bateman: So I've kind of fallen on it during this session.

[42:06] Chris Lanceley: I can't even glance down at my notes and think, you know, how can I answer this question?

[42:11] Brent Bateman: Because I'm still not sure myself.

[42:12] Chris Lanceley: It's just the whole thing's had to shift and it's done it over time and it's done it in performance because you don't get that rehearsal process again once it happens.

[42:22] Brent Bateman: So if you lose something like I did from this huge life shift, you've got to find it doing the show.

[42:26] Chris Lanceley: And all I know is it feels different now.

[42:30] Brent Bateman: It feels more mischievous.

[42:31] Chris Lanceley: It feels more internal, more pointed.

[42:36] Brent Bateman: I like internal.

[42:37] Chris Lanceley: It's made me a better actor maybe.

[42:40] Brent Bateman: It's a longer answer than I expected to the has it changed question.

[42:43] Chris Lanceley: I asked it because I know it has for me.

[42:46] Brent Bateman: Not that I wanted it to because it was a hard few weeks when it wasn't going my way.

[42:50] Chris Lanceley: And I chose to leave the show during that time, but it wasn't because of that.

[42:55] Brent Bateman: That's all the things like getting four hours sleep and then coming up and doing a four hour rehearsal and a two hour show or a two show day followed by a four.

[43:04] Chris Lanceley: It's that.

[43:05] Brent Bateman: And trying to make sure that my wife is having enough time to herself and all of that while she also works.

[43:11] Chris Lanceley: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[43:13] Brent Bateman: Perhaps the most important consideration of all.

[43:16] Chris Lanceley: Yeah.

[43:17] Brent Bateman: We're in the process of a long goodbye now, I suppose.

[43:20] Chris Lanceley: It's a weird thing to call it.

[43:21] Brent Bateman: But I chose to leave the show in, I don't know, February and I had a family leave schedule for a month in June.

[43:26] Chris Lanceley: And then I might end of my contract is 12th of July.

[43:31] Brent Bateman: So weirdly, I've left now for that family leave.

[43:33] Chris Lanceley: I fly to the UK tomorrow.

[43:35] Brent Bateman: And then I'm back second of July and leaving on the 12th.

[43:38] Chris Lanceley: And after seven and a half years doing the show, it's weird.

[43:42] Brent Bateman: And it's weird to like take a month and then do nine days and then leave.

[43:47] Chris Lanceley: Mentally I realized that David has taken over now.

[43:50] Brent Bateman: From the cast perspective, he has been and I'm just coming back for a few days.

[43:55] Chris Lanceley: It's a weird thing to kind of comprehend for me.

[43:59] Brent Bateman: Schedule wise, it's very strange.

[44:00] Chris Lanceley: It's a little baffling.

[44:02] Brent Bateman: But I think it's going to feel like a little bit of a victory lap in a way.

[44:08] Chris Lanceley: You know, coming back and you know, you get what, tension?

[44:12] Brent Bateman: I think it'll be really joyous and I think especially having taken a decent chunk of time away, I think you're going to be hungry to dip your toes in again. I will be. And I also think it's gonna feel really good for you during this time that you're away to think about transitioning into not being in the show. Yes. Because I don't think there's been a lot of time to actually think about that for you or for any of us. Like time is just, it goes by so quickly. You make a decision like this and next thing you know you're done. Yeah. But you get the luxury of sort of thinking about it. You know, you get to already sort of celebrate your time coming to an end and mourn your time coming to an end perhaps before you even get back to come back into the show for ten more performances.

I think those are just gonna be a delight. I think we're gonna play so well. I think it's gonna be a really good time. Yeah. I'm definitely all those little things I've thought, well I want to try this, see if that works in the show. I think I have ten shows to try them all out. Yeah, nothing to lose. Throw it all out there. Nothing to lose. They can't fire me. Burn it down. Yeah. Although announcing my plans to do that is maybe not the best thing.

[45:26] Brent Bateman: So this, I often feel that those of us, you and I and Damien who have been in the show and you know Laura, Laura D'Andre joined very early in the process as well. We're kind of a mental vault to the history of The Play That Goes Wrong Off-Broadway. We remember every failed prop change that ever happened that didn't work or you know the time we tried to break away sword in the fight that wasn't kept. Right, right. The time our platform was broken, things like that or even like old blocking moments and all of these things. You are kind of now the mental vault for the show. You, Damien to an extent, Laura too. I often in rehearsals I'm like oh well we used to do this. I often want to impart that knowledge on people. Do you feel any pressure carrying that forward?

[46:17] Brent Bateman: I don't except to say that there are moments when we're rehearsing something and I will remember the way that it used to be done. Yeah. And then I have a sort of internal discussion about well why were we doing it that way? Does it matter that that's how it used to be done? Was there a big reason that materializes later that we were doing it that way early on or was it just an arbitrary choice that somebody made somewhere and that became lore? Yeah. And there have been occasions where both things have been true where you know we actually we have to do it this way in order for this thing to work later or you can do it any way you want it doesn't matter this is a moment that can kind of stand alone so don't hold on to what used to be done.

[47:06] Brent Bateman: Right. I find it's hard and that's like having all this knowledge of this history of the show it's hard to kind of let go of stuff in the past embrace I find it anyway to let go of stuff in the past that I loved pacings or deliveries or whatever and it's it's hard to embrace new things as well sometimes. It really is. I'll say this I always lead with the idea of course I want things to be fresh and new otherwise I would be bored. You know what my brain really likes? The exact same thing every time. Yeah. That's what my brain likes. Yeah. I like things to be especially if it worked. If it worked then let's keep it exactly the same. That's yeah by default that's what I want to do that's what I.

[47:51] Brent Bateman: You're excellent at that actually. I'm but I don't think I don't think it serves the show very well to be as locked in as I would want to be. No well no but equally you you are I don't know the metronome sounds insulting I don't I don't mean it that way you are such a steady constant hand your ability to you want to do a joke the same way because you found a way that it works you don't always get the same conditions you know the audience is different on a given night the cast is different but you have an incredible ability to make these jokes work consistently and hit just as effectively every night.

[48:31] Brent Bateman: Do you remember early on when I when we first opened this show at New World Stages the cast went a very long time without anyone missing a show. Yes. To the point that when we finally had an understudy go on I was paralyzed with fear. Mm-hmm. Our understudies were great they did a great job of course they did but I was so used to the thing that worked with the people that were with me I was like well it doesn't exist in any other way. Right. Now having run it for so long under so many different circumstances with so many different people I'm so grateful to have experienced what it means to be shaken out of that comfort zone repeatedly it's it's made me I think a better performer and a more a better listener and serving the show better as a result but that doesn't mean that's what my brain wants.

[49:27] Brent Bateman: Oh right. My brain wants this the same dose every time. Yeah the same people there the same timings yeah I understand that. But that's that's awful that's boring and that's and it's also not possible. No especially not in this show. No. I think you're pulling credit away from yourself a little bit I will say like I you you have an ability to make to apply consistency to spontaneity and chaos you know you we have chaos in the show and I understand the fear when you know our first understudies went on because we did create because it's such an ensemble piece we did create such a kind of complete and it's just items we didn't know anything else that's just how the show we didn't we were scared of putting someone else's energy in there but you you as a performer are able to create consistency out of chaos if that makes sense even if you don't you know you want that consistency that exact same thing every night but what everyone else in the company and this goes back to maybe rehearsals of you being perceived and and to now you are kind of a tone setter in the space you've been there a long time you are very good and you are consistent but to be consistent in our chaotic environment is is a real skill I think if that makes sense.

[50:54] Brent Bateman: It does make sense as we get served up a lot of different stuff I think this so as you hinted on earlier one of my other gigs that I do throughout the year is that for the holidays I perform as Santa at the Radio City Music Hall in their Christmas spectacular the differences in performing in The Play That Goes Wrong at New World Stages and performing as Santa at Radio City Music Hall are vast Radio City Music Hall is 6,000 seats our theater is 350 seats it's loosey-goosey kind of improvisatory at The Play That Goes Wrong whereas the Christmas Spectacular is on a click track and it's meant to be it's the Rockettes yeah it's meant to be exactly the same every time and they want the same product for every performance and and it's important to keep the level of quality you want the show to be the same every time there and people have asked me if I find that boring to repeat because we do a ton of performances there and the answer is no I don't it's it's yes outwardly you're receiving the same product but what's happening internally at least for my own sanity is fresh and in the moment every single time right as sincere as it can be every single time I liken it to sort of you know jazz music where you're following charts there are rules within within what we're going to do we're all following the same rules but what you do in between the rules is what makes it alive and what makes it fun and and that's true at Radio City but it's true yeah at The Play That Goes Wrong too we have very strict rules there there are certain beats that have to be hit musically the same or they don't work we've learned that yeah establishing that sort of set rhythm can feel mundane unless you're finding the jazz within it unless you're finding the freedom for you as an actor and character to get there in your own way yeah and that's what I find fascinating about this about this this work specifically because it has the impression of being completely chaotic and at times it actually is but it's also quite meticulously scripted from point A to point B to point C and when you execute these things in this way they work right again there's room to be loose in that but I would think that you would think that after after seven and a half years that it'd be a big yawn to go and do this show the same way every time and it's not it's it's the more rules you give me sort of the more liberated I feel within those rules in a way yeah I like that and I think that allows you to be in many ways the person that new company members look up to understudies come in and they're in the show and they look to you when you know they enter the white room or whatever you're kind of that steady hand that can extend around somebody who isn't quite as confident or comfortable and make them feel that way on stage I think that's what and it's interesting you say it that way your ability you have to do that in the Christmas Spectacular you have to follow such set rules but make it but with honesty and with sincerity and your performance and planning and specificity you're able to create that spontaneity within something so consistent I think it's so effective in both this this and Radio City Christmas Spectacular very different beasts very different beasts but it's it's flexing a similar muscle I think.

[54:53] Brent Bateman: Yeah I was meant to I was talking about wrestling in another podcast about how that seems similar when I saw it live WWE stuff which how you as someone who's watches it between shows of me sometimes recently I've grown to really love those times it's a lot of respect for those performers yeah a lot of respect for them never viewed as an art form in the way that it actually is before anyway whatever I digress right at the end of our time let me say I have I'm trying to think how I close this one out because I could talk to you for another hour about this and we will talk for hours and hours and hours for years and years and years I think that's kind of what this comes down to is that in the seven and a half years I haven't made a better friend than I have in you and I haven't ever enjoyed performing with anyone like I enjoy with you leaving the show is incredibly hard for that reason above all else I would say and I am you know going through phases of regretting it and have done since February I'll be back you know I'll be back as a swing or whatever but yeah these last seven and a half years getting to know you other people the friends I've made the experiences I and we and all of us have had yeah it's I'm glad I got to bring you in particular onto this podcast for those reasons because I think we have experienced it similarly.

[56:21] Brent Bateman: Yeah very much so very much so and adjacently we've in the dressing room you and I have sat next to each other yeah the entire time regardless of which character you were playing yeah you know when you were Jonathan you were on this side mm-hmm for a while as being you weren't no I slid down you slid down I slid down so yeah yeah directly next to each other for seven and a half years in that tiny space yeah and honestly you know your triumphs on stage I could go on forever that's that's not that's not what I'm gonna miss I'm gonna miss sitting next to you every yeah like six days a week for that special time yeah we will have to find other places to sit.

[57:02] Brent Bateman: We will and we will thankfully there are places to sit there are there are lots of places for the you you and I to sit down and I think maybe we could loop back to your mischievous question and maybe number three the awful actor not say I'm awful at all I think I'm great but maybe having someone who is funny and someone you can enjoy spending time with someone who can sit next to you in that dressing room and be a friend true friend and colleague and all of that maybe that is the best option even if they suck on stage maybe but the show closes then you don't have that friend next.

[57:41] Brent Bateman: That's true that's true all right well we've gone on forever and you know what it's really hard because we could go on for another hour and and it would be really fascinating for us it'd be really that's the thing it'd be really fascinating for us and this has been maybe the hardest podcast to record because there's so many things we could talk about there wouldn't be interesting to anybody whatsoever so yeah it's been a real pleasure and I wish you know maybe we'll just shut these microphones off and do that.

[58:06] Brent Bateman: Yeah I'm gonna walk back to the theater with you now right not relevant to anyone listening but there we go so this is I think the penultimate episode of the podcast we have who's finished one more Maddy DeCarlo I've heard of our illustrious director and the current director of the West End production that's correct going West End company so he will be my last I think I'm interviewing in London next week but yeah oh that's a good one yeah that'll be fun Brent thank you so much.

[58:37] Brent Bateman: My pleasure Chris my pleasure joining me today and the last seven and a half years and the next 70 our boys are gonna grow up together how cool is that that's gonna be great yeah thank you and for everyone else I'll see you next time.