What really bugs the shit out of me, though, is everyone saying performance is simply for painting and stage acting and is good for absolutely nothing else. I'm not even an actor and I balk at your small-mindedness. Come on, guys, really?
I don't think anyone actually said that.
There! Right
there you did it \/
... Acting out an American character on stage would be a different thing.
Lying is one thing. Acting is another. Whether or not it's on-stage is irrelevant. It's all in how your character approaches it and how they flavor it.
For example, let us say you killed the Summer Knight in a Canadian train station at noon. On the way out, some gruffs wander through, looking for the culprit. You throw on an Old Glory t-shirt and pick up a news paper. They stroll up and start asking you questions.
If they ask you the time, and you make it seem like your from the U.S. instead of Canada, your answer is covered by performance.
If they straight-up ask you if you killed the Summer Knight, your answer is most likely covered by deceit.
If they ask you the time and you intentionally tell them the
wrong time, your answer is covered by deceit.
If they ask you if you are a U.S. citizen and you roll your eyes, gesture to your shirt and say, "what do
you think?!" it's covered by performance.
If you say "yes," it's deceit.
Performance is flavoring, deceit is lies. Suggesting performance only applies in an art studio or on a stage essentially makes the skill worthless-- it becomes that cooking skill that has been bantered about for a while now: Far too situational for nearly any player-character to take.