Performance styles.

Now that I had my stimulus material for a performance, the hard graft was about to start. I needed to come up with a performance that would express my personality, my experiences and my feelings as well as performing a piece applicable to the audience themselves.

Looking at different practitioners helped in my understanding of how Solo Performance can vary. Some performers were autobiographical, some expressed their material through music and song, others were using the human body to convey their stories.

I researched into Spalding Gray and his production of Swimming to Cambodia. This performance would be entirely made up of Gray’s own personal experiences when travelling in Cambodia communicated via a lengthy, stimulating monologue. “It might be asserted that in some cases the monologue form is ‘essential’ story-telling, a stripping away of dramatic illusion” (Wallace 1999, p.6). Having the ability to perform what is in essence and looks like  a ‘stream of consciousness’ is something I wanted to explore, however my life experiences are interesting enough to captivate audiences attentions for a lengthy period of time. It wasn’t about the stories I guess, it was the way in which I could embody and illustrate them that would be entertaining. Spalding Gray “wanted to explore ‘the other inside of [himself], the constant witness, the constant consciousness” (Terry 2005, p.3), the weariness of himself and his actions through trying to capture a ‘perfect moment’ was the leading through-line to his performance. Seen as a confessional performance style, Solo Performance enables whatever may be happening privately in your life to become public and of knowledge. However Gray had the capability to focus his audience on the rhythm of his prose, he didn’t need an extreme set, just a desk, a book and his voice.

Solo Performance to me, captures two degrees of a person. The performing body; there to entertain as a object of gratification but also as a personal body; the way in which personal stories are used and how they have an individual way of telling them. Gray comments that he “begins to wonder if in the act of confessing his ‘real’ self, he is not subjecting the ‘real’ to regulation by the expectations of the audience” (cited in Terry 2005, p.53). There is an integral step to Solo Performance that invites an exaggerated truth. However whatever exaggerations Gray might put into his stories they are also based on essential truths about him.

My performance will ultimately be a monologue but I would to like to refrain from Spalding’s position. I will incorporate movement and try to embody/react to my stories and the emotions that come with them.

Laurie Anderson was an experimental artist that explored different technological ways to present her work. Through song, lyrics, rhythm, tone, visual projections, her work was conveyed artistically and interestingly. Although her work does not convey autobiographical stories from the outset, her preferred medium of technology infuses her stories.

 

 

WORKS CITED:

Anderson, Laurie (1981) O Superman, Online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VIqA3i2zQw (accessed 29th April 2013).

Gray, Spalding (1985) Swimming to Cambodia – Part 1, Online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCGmra0eFQk (accessed 29th April 2013).

Terry, David Price (2005) ‘Spalding Gray and the Slippery Slope of Confessional Performance’, A Master Thesis, USA: The Department of Communication Studies, Louisiana State University.

Wallace, Clare (1999) Monologue Theatre, Solo Performance and Self as Spectacle, Online: http://litteraria.ff.cuni.cz/books/extracts/monologues_intro.pdf (accessed 29th April 2013).

 

Long time, no blog!

Apologies for not blogging in a while, things have been a little turbulent on the Solo Performance front. After going back to the drawing board, it became very difficult to search for new ideas. I wanted to take my work towards non-autobiographical material but was otherwise advised to stay with myself, my thoughts and my experiences. I therefore felt it necessary to look for things that attracted me rather than waiting for something to happen. I mean I already have my past life experiences but I needed a concrete stage for conveying them.

I started to look at videos and images that I may feel a connection too. I wanted to take my performance from stimulus material, use that as an influence and perform in my own way. I came across the English artist Banksy and started to look at his politically driven graffiti sprawled across the streets of Bristol. His work intrigued me as his images created a subtext, a truth and a striking image all in one picture. Banksy has dealt with an array of political and social issues including anti-war, anti-capitalism, poverty, alienation, hypocrisy and despair. These images fascinated me and although not a Solo Performance in itself, this art would stem from something he felt passionate about.

This one was one of my favourites! Just a normal maid employed by the high class elite people, just sweeping things under the carpet.. just like in reality!
This one was one of my favourites! A normal maid employed by the high class elite people, sweeping things under the carpet.. a true reflection of society!
This picture struck me hard as it shows the difference in the world. A starving young child holding hands with two famous consumer products. Disneyland and Macdonalds..
This picture struck me hard as it shows the difference in the world. A starving young child holding hands with two famous consumer products. Disneyland and Macdonalds..
I love this as it shows that homosexuality is natural and it doesn't matter who you are or what profession you are in. Being men of the law doesn't matter as you are a human first and foremost.
I love this as it shows that homosexuality is natural and it doesn’t matter who you are or what profession you are in. Being men of the law doesn’t matter as you are a human first and foremost.
Shopping till you drop, the fact that the world is in poverty and we are becomes passive consumers, doesn't stop the ignorant people who contribute to it.
Shopping till you drop, the fact that the world is in poverty and we are passive consumers, doesn’t stop the ignorant people who contribute to it.

The one picture that stood out most for me was one of a young girl, dressed head to toe in black and white reaching out/letting go of a red balloon. I felt a connection to this young girl and wanted to explore why.. I took the picture along with me to class and asked my fellow students what they thought when confronted with it. I got mixed reactions but all felt connected in some way. Some said that the image was metaphorical for loss whilst others said it was for gain. I decided to draw upon my own conclusions and use this as a stimulus for my performance.

There is always hope.
There is always hope.

My perception of this image was of a small timid girl in a world of confusion losing something that was dear to her. This struck me in my personal life as I have experienced loss of a huge amount. From family members to love, to losing myself and losing what I felt was right. This little girl had lost her balloon and I felt like she would do everything in her power to get it back. However I also felt a strong sense of freedom, contentment and happiness. She wasn’t losing her balloon, she let it go. She decided that she didn’t need it anymore and wanted someone else to experience what fun she had. Letting go was something I wanted to look at in my performances especially from an autobiographical perspective. I had gained something in my life that has made me who I am and ‘there is always hope’ stood out for me. No matter what way you would look at this image, to me happiness is there. Whether you let go of something or it flies away without you approval, it has happened and even though there is no way of getting it back.. there is always hope!

 

WORKS CITED:

All images from Google Images. Online:https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=banksy+art&biw=1366&bih=624&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=-WR-UYH_KcST0AWA8YDQAg#imgrc=_ (accessed: 29th April 2013).