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!
Over the last few weeks I felt as though my concept had really started to develop. I began to form a clear structure; therefore I felt that I was in a position to start writing a script. I found this part of the process to be my favourite. I have loved seeing all the straggled ideas being strung together by this script. It was beginning to look like an actual show!
Performer & Audience Relationship
Sean Bruno and Luke Dixon’s book Creating Solo Performance (2015) has proven to be extremely beneficial throughout the creation process. Therefore, I decided to refer back to their writings for the script creating process. Before I write anything, Bruno and Dixon suggest that I decide my relationship with my audience, as this would alter the whole atmosphere and presentation of the performance and script. They comment that ‘the relationship between a solo performer and their audience is very different from that between an audience and any other form of performance’ (Bruno and Dixon, 2015, 38). ‘A solo show creates a dialogue with the audience’ (ibid, 39), therefore my relationship with them has to be acknowledged straight away. They state many types of relationships that a solo performer could hold with their audience, such as entertaining, seductive, relaxed, educative, intimate etcetera. I decided to choose a combination of a few relationships. I chose inclusive (as I am inviting them into my ‘cocoon’/ life), relaxed (as that is the overall feel of my cocoon, very chilled out) and entertaining (as I will be creating music for them). When choosing these, I thought back to performer and musician Adam Page. His solo shows were light-hearted and entertaining, and his dialogue reflected this. He opened his 2013 Edinburgh Fringe performance by asking everybody how they were doing, and to give a loud ‘whoop’ if they were from Scotland. This allowed the audience to immediately grasp the casual fun relationship that he was trying to achieve.
(Adam Page, 2013)
Much like Adam Page, the opening section of staging and dialogue will help me certify these relationships with my audience. Hopefully the relaxed environment from within the staging area, the jazz, the incense, the pj’s etcetera, will portray this visually. Verbally, I will speak very casually to them, as though my opening dialogue is just a selection of passing comments. For example, my opening line is “nice isn’t it” – referring to the atmosphere and staging, and “good read too” – referring to The Stage magazine that I will be reading with a cup of tea in my hand.
Starting at the end
I was originally aiming to write the script in a chronological structure, beginning, middle, and then the end. However, I found that writing the beginning and end before the middle was extremely useful. Anthony Herron stated that the beginning of the play is the problem/ need, the end is the self-revelation, and the bits in between are the characters journey to achieve this self-revelation (Herron, 2005, 21). He states that the writer ‘must first know the character’s personality and attributes along with his destination, then plot out how to get him there’ (ibid), suggesting that the writer ‘start at the end […], and then go back to the beginning and fill in the steps between’ (ibid). Following Herron’s advice, I finished writing the script before I made any music or wrote the dialogue about my relationships. I felt that knowing exactly what my final motivations were for the performance, effected what I wanted to musically create in the middle section. I originally wanted to create an upbeat happy song to represent my happy relationships. However, when I wrote the ending, I found myself being drawn towards a more reflective, mature outlook on my relationships, with also a hint of sadness for leaving them. This has now altered the type of music I want to create, now wanting a smoother rhythm, with a softer ‘loving’ tune, with a more sentimental and calm feel about it.
Work Cited
Bruno, S., Dixon, L. (2015) Creating Solo Performance. Oxfordshire: Routledge.
Herron, A. (2005) Scriptwriting and Structure. Lincoln: iUniverse.
Adam Page (2013) ADAM PAGE at the Edinburgh Fringe FULL SHOW. [online video] Available from http://youtu.be/ivZQFIGwX4E [Accessed 30 April 2016].