On Thursday 31st January 2013, I went to watch a Solo Performance at the LPAC. I was unsure about what the performance was about however I refused to read the blurb as I wanted to experience it with no premeditated ideas or opinions..
Performed by Antonia Grove and directed by Wendy Houstoun, this delightful performance was cleverly put together yet I felt uncertain about understanding it. This made me question, do we have to understand a Solo Performance to appreciate the performers intentions? The opening consisted of minimum lighting and no sound, this made me eager in wanting to know the reasons behind it. Antonia presented herself on stage listening to an iPod. The sound of her chosen ‘song’ was played through multi-media allowing the audience to hear what she heard. The ‘song’ we heard on the iPod was a therapeutic tape. I thought this was a very nice idea and gave the audience the potential insight into what possible personal reason she had to listen to a ‘help tape’. She was pretty, slim and looked confident so surely she didn’t want to be anyone else?
The changing of wigs, shoes and personas allowed me to interpret this as her ‘changing’ herself with the help of the relaxation/therapeutic tape. This made me feel sorry for her as she was obviously not happy with who she really was. She embodied the space through repetitions of movement and her speech became funny. She made her inner opinions comical which eased the audience as I felt some were unsure of what was happening and how to feel.. she captured our attention by doing something so simple yet creative which I will take as an inspiration.
The use of space was extraordinary when she took on the persona of girl number 03. By shotting tequila and dancing around she began to get more drunk and started to throw herself around in such a mesmerizing manner. You could tell she was well trained using her body as her movements had been thoroughly practised and perfected. The use of movement was strong and I enjoyed watching the movement from her, it fit perfectly into the dialogue and didn’t distract anyone from what message she was conveying. In this video at 6 minutes and 10 seconds, you can witness the precise and structured bodily expression.
During the audible tape, there were repetitions of the discreet messages ‘who do you want to be?’ ‘be who you want to be’ – this not only was directed toward the performer herself but also to us as an audience ourselves. Seeking help should not make you feel ashamed and I appreciated how the notion of help addressed everyone in the audience. I started to look at myself and reassure myself on what and who I wanted to become. I would like to create this feeling within my audience, making them look at their lives and themselves whilst also addressing the tribulations in my life.
The use of song and music was also a good way to up the tempo as at some points I felt like the production was slowly dragging. Singing along to ‘Crazy In Love’ by Beyonce, in her own way Antonia familiarised this song with the last generation and made the dance quite funny in juxtaposition to the desperate song lyrics. I liked the fact that even though it didn’t seem to fit, I enjoyed the different pathways her Solo Performance was going down. Taking on the different personas of women and portraying them in various ways made me feel good to be female and by questioning who I was, I felt comfortable in her portrayals. Towards the end, she took the props and clothes off which differentiated herself from each character, cleared the stage and left, however she came back on to give an acceptance speech which I thought was quite fitting.
It ended and I enjoyed experiencing an hour long Solo Performance – THANK GOD, mine will only be around 12 minutes long! I then looked at the programme given to me before the show and saw “A girl should be two things: who and what she wants – Coco Chanel”. This made me feel empowered and accepted.
WORKS CITED:
Probe Theatre Company Leaflet (2013)
Grove, Antonia ‘Small Talk‘, Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPdMgt-uklY (last accessed 5th February 2013).