This module has been an absolute blast. There has been ups and downs, of course, but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. What a great way to finish my degree!
(94croberts, 2016)
Work Cited
94croberts (2016) Solo Performance Evaluation. [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38oOnOISJKs [Accessed 18 May 2016].
Today I brought all my props into the performance space. I originally had many more objects, however I decided that having the stage bursting at the seams with props, along with the glitter ball effect, would be visually too much. Therefore, I decided to only use objects that are referred to in the dialogue, or relevant to the overall piece. I feel that objects such as the giant teddy portrays my immaturity and desire not to grow up, yet the theatrical masks hanging from the sign quoting inspiration slogans portrays my constant desire to perform.
Having a family photo on stage was a choice influenced by Victoria Melody’s performance Hair Peace (2016). When speaking about her sister and friend, she projected images of them onto TV screens. As an audience member, I felt that I knew the people she was explaining on a more intimate level, despite the fact that they were never present.
However, what makes my performance different to Hair Peace is that the people I’m talking about are present. My family and boyfriend will be in the audience. By having the photos of them on stage, the audience can make the connection between the photo and the physical people without me specifically referencing their presence. Earlier on in the creation process, I had intended to project photos of my family onto TV screens in an almost identical format to Victoria Melody. However, after finding out that the people I would be speaking about would actually be present, I decided that projecting obvious images of them was unnecessary, and a more subtle approach would be more suitable.
Research and influences
One of the main underlying themes of my performance is this idea of a cocoon and metamorphosis. When speaking through my performance it was suggested that just having a black curtained off area was not enough to portray the cocoon. With this in mind, I began researching into performances that had a performance space that transported the audience into a different space and time, like my cocoon. I immediately thought back to a performance that I watched for a previous module, children’s theatre performance, Arnold’s Big Adventure (2015). The performance took place in a small tent, situated in the corner of a large rehearsal studio in The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. The actors spoke to the audience before entering the tent, stating that when they step foot through the doors, they are entering “the magical glade”. Inside the tent the audience were surrounded by the performance, and, although I don’t wish to be so childish and patronising to my audience, the creation of such an inclusive, immersive space was highly influential for my performance.
This led my research into how to recreate this visually immersive space for my performance. Last year I watched Compagnia TPO’s performance Bleu (2015) which, unbeknown to me at the time, would prove to be very useful for constructing the set for my solo performance. The set was basic, there were no large props or naturalistic set design, only layers of sheer material hung from the rig. The material was lowered and surrounded the actors and participating audience members. What inspired me the most from Bleu, was the material they used. I really liked the idea of using sheer netting material for my set, to represent the silk web that cocoons are made from.
Experimenting with set and lighting
During class today, we experimented with the possible technical aspects of our performances. I took this opportunity to bring my staging and lighting ideas to life. I took the idea of cloth/silk from Bleu and tried to incorporate it, however, the cloths took up too much performance space when draped across the stage. I therefore decided to have four strands hanging on the far wall to still subtly portray the silk netting of the cocoon.
Whilst experimenting with different lighting states, the disco ball was lit above my performance space. All of a sudden it created this amazing space. Small specs of light shone in every direction, and it created a surreal, magical, space. This is exactly what I wanted.
My set design will consist of white drapes of muslin, hung on the far wall and down lit with a subtle ‘homely’ pink tinge. A white light will be shone onto the disco ball to create 360 degrees of subtle specs of light.
When it came to creating this looped song, I thought it would have been much simpler than it actually turned out to be. When faced with learning how to use this loop pedal (something I’ve never used before), it was a daunting task, made even more daunting with the knowledge of a live audience. But over the last couple of days I’ve turned to my most influential solo performer for some guidance, Adam Page. During the beginning of this process a lot of my work was influenced by Laurie Anderson, which subsequently allowed me to form the basis of my show. However, as my ideas and concepts have developed, I have found my work steering away from the constant avant-garde musical underscoring of Laurie Anderson and more onto narrative and musical storytelling artists such as Adam Page.
I watched numerous of his performances, and gathered performance acting techniques, as well as musical techniques.
What I’ve learn from Adam
He is a great storyteller. He structures many of his shows around a single event or story, tells that story, then improvises a song about it. I would like to use this structure within my performance. To use the song as a commentary on my situation and story, rather than the song as the main focus like in much of Laurie Anderson’s work.
All of his musical work is completely improvised. This therefore makes the performance seem raw and slightly rugged. I really like this and think this honesty could be quite endearing in my performance. As the performances are all improvised, the objects he chooses to make music from are randomly picked from the objects around him. I like this a lot, and although my objects will be pre-chosen, I will perform it as though they are spontaneous decisions. I think doing this will be more in keeping with the relaxed, chilled out atmosphere, rather than being structured and pre-planned (which is completely contrasting to my cocoon).
My attempt at looping
Below is an example of one of many first attempts at looping. It was not as complex as I wanted the final song to be, but it was one of many stepping-stones towards the final piece.
After many days of experimenting with sounds and rhythms, below is a recording of the final song. Also, if the worst happens and it all goes wrong in the performance (as is often with live music), this is proof of what it should have sounded like!