Basically, I'm a barker.
I need a little history to put things in context. St Albans Morris Men have had a Fool and an Animal, Harry the Hart, for a long time. The Fool, Jim Rose, wears a (copy of a) Hertfordshire farm-workers smock, and carries a shepherd's crook. He dances in and around the set, and uses his crook to assist and/or interfere with dancers. Harry, the horned (and/or horny) beast loves to dance as a member of the set, and has to be chased out of the way; he then goes off to sulk, or to sneak up behind some unsuspecting audience member and startle him or her (usually her) by appearing over a shoulder. Harry is silent, Jim will comment on a situation, sometimes just for the dancers, sometimes for the audience as well.
The club's time-honoured approach to verbal communication with the audience was that the personleading a particular dance would shout out its name just before starting. Most men disliked this element of the performance. Similarly, collecting duty fell on whoever failed to avoid it, so most men made sure they did avoid it.
About twelve years ago, respiratory problems meant I had to stop dancing. In another incarnation, I used to MC folk clubs and such like, so the Squire of the day suggested I might develop a character to do most of the club's verbal communication with the audience.
What emerged from discussions was as follows -
I would "top and tail" a show, announce the dances, fill in with chat, when necessary, between dances, and thank the audience at the end. As an extension, I would become the principal collector (cadger, whatever) for the club, thereby relieving dancers of another much-disliked task. I would (aim to) avoid impinging on the dancers, leaving them, the Fool and Harry to carry on with their jobs.
It took a little while for these ideas to develop, and a bit longer for a Character to emerge, but what we came up with was an archetypal street-communicator, the Town Cryer. NMC, perhaps, but a good, attention-getting figure. I got a tricorn hat and a handbell, and started from there.
I now wear a pseudo-18th century costume; blue frock coat and gold waistcoat (the club colours), a white jabot and stockings, black breeches and tricorn hat. I talk (sometimes rather loudly) to the audience. I announce the show and the individual dances. If we are short of dancers, I try to keep the audience's attention while the men regroup, pick up sticks, breathe, etc. I have a bunch of "standard" lines of chat, partly informative, partly corny. I try to include references to current events, and to respond to feedback from the audience (and the men). The men hear the lines too often; fortunately, most spectators only get them once.
I don't "hide" when the set is dancing, but I do normally distance myself from it unless neither the Fool or Harry is out. On our usual pub spots, this means standing aside, or perhaps near the musician. If I have to move around, I don't try to skulk, but I don't make a parade of it either. I DON'T dance, in or out of the set.
At a big event, I can move around in the audience and talk to people without drawing everyone's attention from the dance. I talk to children - the best ploy I have found is to say "How d'you do?" and offer to shake hands with them ; most kids are amazed that an adult in costume actually wants to talk to them, and react well - some don't. Sometimes, parents will actually hand kids to me to hold so they can take photos, but otherwise it's handshake only.
I always announce the imminent circulation of the collecting box, and make it clear that I want money, if people feel like giving some. I don't try to shake down people who are not watching, or who don't want to donate, and I don't make a big thing of it when the audience is very small. While collecting, I give people the club's programme leaflet - it's free, but I do say that we are grateful for donations, and I try to thank everybody. (The programme also has answers to most of the F.A.Qs, so I can direct people to it, rather than explaining n times per show that we don't know why it's called Morris.) Of course, I use time spent collecting to say hello to individuals in the crowd, and to answer non-standard questions.
If the setting demands it, and it's available, I use PA, though our musicians prefer not to. I can SHOUT, if necessary, but the aim is to communicate, and that's much easier in conversational or projected tones.
If a stand ends with, say, Bonnie Green Garters, I join the men for the final "show", raising my hat. After the last dance, I step up to thank the audience. for being so good, (even if they haven't), and to tell them we look forward to seeing them again (even if we don't).
That's the bones of what I do. I don't know of any strict historical precedent for it in the Morris, but I'm sure that any group appearing outside its home locale would have had to explain itself, to some degree. Someone must have talked to the audience, but whether there was ever a full-time barker, I don't know.
My role adds some of the "structure" that MDDLers have mentioned to the performance of a string of dances. It's not the "story" some have sought, but it does provide a beginning, middle and end to a stand, and it does involve the audience more closely. It seems to work, for us. As to my own performance in the role, others must judge.
Nowadays, when we are told that attention spans are dropping, and that people increasingly want their entertainment packaged, I don't think ANY group that appears in public can afford gaps or pauses with nothing happening (what broadcasters call, tellingly, "dead air") - audiences vote, all too visibly, with their feet. I'd urge every club to think about how it relates to its audience, and I'd love to hear , on or off-list, about other folks' approaches and experiences.
(There are pictures of the Fool, Harry and the Town Cryer at the club's website run by jOHN, at http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/jprice/samm/samm.htm)