If you’ve ever attended an oral interpretation event, you may have witnessed some of the participants rehearsing before their performance. And if you’ve seen performers practicing, you’ve probably seen a handful of them who look as if they’re talking to a wall. To be honest, that's exactly what they're doing.
As weird and uncomfortable as it may appear to a bystander, a performer talking to a wall is completely normal. To some, it’s the best way to prepare for a stage performance.
This past weekend, Yankton high school hosted the 110th annual State Oral Interpretation festival. One of the ‘wall talkers’ at the event was Watertown senior Marqus McDonnell. To him, talking to a wall is all about refining a performance.
“It’s a practice thing basically, so it’s just you warming up, learning your words, getting your emotions, and kind of working on stuff, so you can get your blocking right so it looks really really polished and looks really really good in rounds,” explained McDonnell.
Oral interp practice isn’t specific to practicing in front of a wall, it just depends on what the rehearsal calls for.
“I like to talk to the walls, but sometimes I like to have others listen to me, so I can get personal feedback as well. It’s so funny, because now if you look at interp shirts and stuff they’ll say ‘yeah, we talk to walls. Got a problem?’
Here’s a shirt design from the National Speech and Debate Association.
“I love the ‘we talk to walls’ shirts, because everybody is super confused by it,” said McDonnell. “They’ll say ‘why is that person talking to a wall? What are they doing? Are they crazy? Do I need to call somebody?’”
The philosophy of talking to walls isn't exclusive to just oral interp either. The practice technique is also common in the activities of theater, speech, and debate as well.
So next time you’re at an oral interp event, or another activity that is similar, and you see a bunch of kids talking to walls, understand that it’s all part of the process in getting better, and being the best performer possible.
