After researching a number of practitioners, and watching their performances, I have decide that I don’t particularly want to perform an autobiographical piece. Personally I want to perform something which is a bit more generic and relatable to an audience, rather than simply telling them a personal story about myself. Whilst watching autobiographical performances such as John Leguizamo’s Ghetto Klown (2011), I found myself skipping forward the recording because I couldn’t relate to any of his material. Whereas performances that are more about general life and society allow for all members of the audience to relate to the material.
‘The one-person shows is at its most interesting when it looks outwards rather than in, and, playing on the relationship between performer and audience, it wants to be a conversation rather than a monologue’ (Gardner, 2015)
Work Cited
Gardner, L. (2015) Going Solo: How the one person show is gazing beyond the navel. [online] London: The Guardian. Available from http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2015/sep/02/solo-one-person-show-edinburgh [Accessed 18 February 2016].
Music has been an aspect that has cropped up many times within my research. I like the idea of multimedia and music technology along with storytelling. So the practitioner that automatically arose for me was Laurie Anderson. She is an American experimental performance artist and musician born in 1947 in Illinois. She originally trained as a sculpture but then expanded into music, art, theatre and film. Her work has been described as avant-garde and has proved to be very popular, as her most famous song O Superman (1981) made it to number 2 in the UK music charts.
Anderson’s blend of music, art, technology and theatre is something that I really admire. Performances such as Duets on ice (1974) saw this artistic combination come to light. She would stand on two blocks of ice on ice-skates playing a violin. She wouldn’t stop playing until the ice had melted naturally. I don’t wish to necessarily do anything quite this avant-garde, however it did make me consider the effects that music and theatre can have when combined.
This then led my research to performance artists whose genres overlaps between musician and actor, and whose work is less avant-garde. Two people that struck my attention are Tim Minchin and Flight of the Conchords. Both of these artists use song to enhance the storytelling of the performance with a lighthearted comedic edge. I don’t want to go down the route of standup by any means, but these artists have given me understanding of how to combine humour, song and theatre into one performance.
What I found also interesting is that, although extremely different, both Flight of the Conchords and Laurie Anderson commonly speak-sing they work, or move from song to spoken work effortlessly. I think this adds fluidity to the piece, eradicating the divide between song and speech. This could be something I explore in a later date.
Below are videos of all three performance artists.
(Andreas Valentin, 2011)
(Best of Tim Minchin, 2011)
(Ella Elise, 2006)
Work Cited
Andreas Valentin (2011) Laurie Anderson Duet on Ice. [online video] Available from http://youtu.be/2SGRvhseH6I [Accessed 17 February 2016].
Best of Tim Minchin (2011) Tim Minchin – If I Didn’t Have You – Full uncut version. [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn6gV2sdl38 [Accessed 17 February 2016].
Ella Elise (2006) Flight of the Chonchords – Albi (racist dragon). [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-jVAHAuiS4 [Accessed 17 March 2016].
As of yet, I’m not sure what I want to base my piece on or what themes I want to explore. However there are a few performance concepts that interest me and that I would like to explore further.
As mentioned in previous blog posts, the notion of reenacting and imitation is something that I find fascinating, such as work from Anna Deavere Smith and Eric Bogosian. I also have a love for music and find the works of Laurie Anderson very interesting. I really enjoy the way she incorporates music into theatre, and this is something that I would very much like to incorporate into my final piece somehow.
Over the last week I have wracked my brain and watched performance after performance in the hope that some Laurie Anderson styled inspiration will appear. However to no avail. I realised I was trying to hard, so I decided to simply put my iPod on shuffle and wait. Inspiration came in the surprising form of Ed Sheeran. I was listening to one of his live performances and realised that he was using a loop station to create the depth and layering of music.
Loop stations can record numerous sounds and layer them on top of one another. Typically it’s used for music (instruments) however, could I use this in a different way? Could I use this as a system to build layers of character’s speech? Could I incorporate rhythm and present a rhythmic performance of imitated testimonies? Could I combine my love for music and singing with character acting?
Below is a video example of how a loop box works.
(Lucie Feenstra, 2013)
I don’t want to run away with this idea this early on in the process, however this is something that I would really like to explore further.
Work Cited
Lucie Feenstra (2013) Live Loop Pedal Performance – Rhythm Interactive. [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvs2zupOA-I [Accessed 11 February 2016].
In class we explored the techniques Anna Deavere Smith uses in her productions, focusing on imitation. We were asked to create a five minute piece that involved us impersonating three people. The structure of the piece was very similar to Smith’s performances. We had to introduce our piece and explain who these people were. We placed three individual styled hats in separate areas around the stage and as we put on that hat we became that person. I impersonated my mum, my nan and my landlord.
I have never graced the stage (straight acting wise) on my own without the backup of others so this exercise was a first for me. I knew that taking this module was a massive risk as it put me right outside of my comfort zone. So when we were asked to create a piece and perform it in front of the class, I was extremely nervous. As it was my first time, I honestly didn’t know how it was going to turn out. I could have easily frozen. However to my surprise, it was the most exhilarating experience and I absolutely loved it! I really enjoyed throwing myself into the characters.
This excercise has really expanded my performance ideas. Prior to this exercise I wanted to be as far away from the centre of attention as possible, focusing on more performance art or something involving singing (which is my comfort zone) rather than straight acting. However I found it actually quite exhilarating being the centre of attention and throwing myself into acting roles for a change.
Anna Deavere Smith is an American actress, playwright and professor, best known for her one-woman plays that examined the social issues behind current events. Smith was born September 1958 in Baltimore, and was raised in a racially segregated middle-class section of Baltimore. Many of her works are about racial issues, so her upbringing proved to be highly influential for her plays to come.
Smith had an undeniable talent for imitation and this therefore became the focus of her performances. Her breakthrough work was Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities (1992). She crafted the play from her own in-depth interviews with members of the Brooklyn community, and performed all 29 roles, moving seamlessly from one character to the next.
(PBS, 2012)
(TED, 2007)
Smith would walk up to people on the street and in return for them giving them an hour of their time, she would offer them a chance to see themselves perform. Her work focused a lot around communities. Smith herself stated, ‘I realise this approach could serve to mirror a community that was interested in looking at itself […] particularly communities where people were having difficulty saying things to one an other or felt silenced’ (Clines, 1992). I really like this idea of holding a mirror up to a community, showing them what is going on around them. This would be something that I would like to explore further if I decide to take my performance down a more political route, which is something that I am interested in.
Researching the work of Anna Deavere Smith raised a few questions for when producing my own show.
Why are we listening?
What are we listening for?
What do we want to see?
What is it that draws us to a form of theatre in which the actor introduces people to us that we’re asked to imagine?
We are clearly aware of the theatrical façade so how is this form of theatre so effective?
Is there something in the very act of taking on the ‘other’ in a way that is not possible in the ‘real world’?
I cannot begin to produce a solid and justifiable answer to these questions, but perhaps its something to the structure of her performances. She doesn’t completely embody the character is a visual sense. The language and the actual telling of the testimony takes priority to the visual believability.
Within an interview, Smith stated ‘I see myself as not a typical theatre person, but a person who uses the theatre as a place to meet people and explore ideas’ (Arboleda, 2010). This notion of exploring real people, is something that I would possibly like to consider. I also like the way she incorporates a political stance on her work. Its not a demanding political message but its evident enough to potentially make a difference.
Work Cited
Arboleda, Y. (2010) Let Me Down Easy. [online] The Huffington Post. Available from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yazmany-arboleda/emlet-me-down-easyem_b_400996.html. Accessed 7 February 2016.
Clines, F. (1992) At work with: Anna Deavere Smith; The 29 Voices of One Woman In Search of Crown Heights. [online] New York: The New York Times. Available from http://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/10/garden/work-with-anna-deavere-smith-29-voices-one-woman-search-crown-heights.html?pagewanted=all. Accessed 7 February 2016.
PBS (2012) Great Performances | Anna Deavere Smith talks about “Let me down easy” | PBS. [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmA0zM-S1sE [Accessed 6 February 2016].
Smith, A. D. (1992) Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities. [performance] New York: The Public Theatre. 1 May.
TED (2007) Anna Deavere Smith: Four American Characters. [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR8SwPmCFd4 [Accessed 6 February 2016].
