‘The Archive of My Life’

I have summarised my ideas and noted my intentions for both myself and audience and have concluded a feasible and emotive performance. Drawing on my ‘up and down’ persona I will delve into my life and experiences prompted by home videos and specific objects.

The performance will start as soon as people walk into the studio, they will be asked to walk around ‘the exhibition of my life’ – there will be objects ranging from clothes, videos, baby photo’s, teddies, phones, medals etc that I have acquired in my life, all of whom mean something to me. There will be place cards next to the items stating WHAT IT IS, WHEN DID I USE/MAKE/CONDUCT THIS AND WHY IT IS SENTIMENTAL TO ME? Whilst the audience is walking around being informed of those parts of my life, a silent home video from when I was younger will play in the background on a projection. The spectators will watch this but not be able to hear the audio, they will think nothing of it and continue to look around the exhibition. I will be placed in darkness surrounded by barriers in the middle of the floor. I wanted to use physical props to create a sense of claustrophobia, people will look but as I will be motionless their attention will be drawn to other aspects in the studio.

I would then like a blackout as people are walking round and then the home video to start playing with sound. They will be drawn to that and watch the repeat but with audio. When that has finished, I want a spotlight shone onto myself surrounded by these barriers, starting my monologue with “Do you ever feel like you’re life is an exhibition?” – a scripted/improvised monologue will then follow. I am going to perform partially improvised because that captures the crux of my performance. As previously explained, I have a very up and down personality and because that mood changes very quickly and becomes controlling, myself and Martin have agreed that I will perform how I want and what I feel like on that day.

This isn’t set in stone as of yet but I would then like to choose 3 or more objects in that exhibition to interact with and comprise a short story about. I am still unsure as to what I want the audience to feel and to what outcome I want to achieve, however exhibiting my life including the bad parts is a big step for a Solo Performance and hopefully my monologue with be both emotional, exhilarating and humorous.