Steve Burns’ one man show Alive explores parasocial relationships, how it feels to find out everyone thinks you’re dead, and the negative effects of the fame that comes with being a children’s TV show host. Burns hosted American kid’s show Blue’s Clues from 1996 to 2002, and very quickly became very significant to a lot of the country’s youth, as the show explores: “I did not intend to be this important to anyone.” Burns mimics the style of the show that catapulted him into notoriety by speaking into a camera that projects onto a screen above the stage, in a way that strangely feels more personal than simply talking to the audience. Staring into your eyes, inches away from the lens, Burns asks: “will you help me?”
Alive offers a unique perspective into the person on the other side of the screen. Blue’s Clues was an incredibly personal show, as Steve would talk directly to the audience, needing their help to solve each episode’s problem. As you can imagine, this created a breeding ground for para-sociality, as children developed relationships with the only man in the TV who would talk back. Burns bares his soul, discussing how it became hard to tell where the person ended and the character began—and how his co-star, Blue the dog, had “the luxury of being not real.”
Burns’ storytelling is gripping, at times funny, and other times heart-wrenching. He invites you into his world, telling of how he desperately tried to prove that he was still alive, and arguing with strangers in the street who insisted that he wasn’t. You learn about his beginnings in acting, a brief brush with sex symbolism, and the crushing, isolating effects of the rumours of his death. After all, if everyone thinks you’re dead, then what’s the point in living?
The focus of Alive is just as much on the audience as on Burns. It seemed that many people in attendance felt that they had some kind of connection to Steve, whether the character or the man behind it, dating back to his time on Blue’s Clues. This created a unitary atmosphere, with the room rising and falling with Burns at every peak and trough of his story. I felt able to connect with Burns despite having no such relationship—owing to his immersive and emotionally naked storytelling.
Alive takes you on a journey that leaves you questioning the nature of your relationships and considering the impact that internet rumours can have on someone. At the start of the performance, Burns asks: “will you help me?” You get the sense by the end of the show that you have helped him, and that, in a weird way, he has helped you.
To find out more about Steve Burns’ experiences with parasocial relationships and death rumours, read my interview with him here.
Steve Burns: Alive is running until 30 August at Underbelly Cowgate.
Buy tickets here.
Image by Rebecca J Michelson, provided to The Student as press material.
