Solo Performance- Greg Sellers

In a development to my ideas, I wanted to do something comic to relate to a recorded speech about the inner mind of a comic. I felt everyone can find links to their own personality as we all laugh to forget our fears. I could start by creating a Chaplin style expression with make up whilst the inner turmoil of a clown is recorded. Perhaps I could record that for this week, a speech about the inner psyche of a comedian.

I was inspired on this idea through Charlie Chaplin images

 

I have decided that, rather than trying the make up this week  I will practice other ideas. How about writing ‘hahahahahahaha’ continuously on a piece of paper or silently laughing whilst the recording plays?. I could tell a story about grief, the tears behind the clown and everything else in life that can’t be wiped away by laughter. .I decided to ponder these ideas to hopefully make a final confirmation on what notion to proceed with.

I now have a basis for inspiration for my performance but need some comedy theory to ground it in practice; Amy Taublin’s The Solo Self. Solo performance has it’s foundations in “private obsessions that commands the audience’s attention” (Carroll, 1979, 51).  I will thus ensure that I become fixated with something during my performance. I must also comprise “the feelings of division and distance”  (Caroll, 1979, 51) and I can play around with “the experience of being seen (Caroll, 1979, 52) and “being heard symbolically” (Caroll, 1979, 53), which also will create tension.  The performer must be “observed” (Caroll, 1979, 52). Tabulin’s first solo Pimping for herself describes “what it feels like to be looked at as a performer while also inciting yet defying voyeuristic glances at her nudity”  (Caroll, 1979, 52). This voyeuristic impression I would like to explore in my performance and, in particular “what it is to be a person” (Caroll, 1979, 52). In another performance Double Occupancy Taublin transforms “the words of the text and the staging” (Caroll, 1979, 54) another element I would love to experiment with.  The stream of consciousness present within Taublin’s work is another aspect I would like to make prevalent. The ability to “contrast an invisible living inner voice with it’s visible outer manifestation” (Caroll, 1979, 56)  is another feature I would like to highlight , aided by the technique of “detached delivery” (Caroll, 1979, 56) to enforce certain expression. Finally, “changing angles of view” (Caroll, 1979, 57) really attracted me as something I could add .

With all these ideas in mind I needed to develop my second 5 minute performance.  I felt I  should try to record something and maybe do something to accompany this. I recorded my comedy script and hen listened to it  . I thought this was too boring and remembered Marina’s idea of eating whilst speaking a script  to constitute multi-tasking. I started thinking about the script and then had the idea of eating my words , metaphorically and literally, hearing my script and then eating my words. However, I thought this would be impractical, unless I ate sugar paper; and what message does “eating my words” convey?

I was really inspired by the presentation on Marnia Abramovic. This shocked as to how far she pushed the boundaries however I was intrigued by the metaphors and purposes behind her work.

It was suggested that I focus the performance on thoughts and perhaps the grieving process. It was inferred  that I found out my inner thoughts. I preferred this to talking about grief, as I can’t really specify my thoughts; also this could become too autobiographical and perhaps lose the sense of the words. So, I began with a pre-performance exercise; I wrote down a series of questions I would ask my brain if I could. Making use of the features that have inspired me from the readings, I listened to music throughout , to zone out my brain . After this I was asked these questions and recorded my answers.  Then, in my performance I interviewed myself. I set up two chairs opposite each other, to create an interview. The live me was then the interviewer . After each question the recorded me gave the response. The live me sat and nodded to the questions as though the interviewee was sat opposite me. I picked three main questions: Who are you?, Do you claim to have an ego? and Do you want to be loved?. I felt that these questions were personal to me but also applied to society. They also progressively probed more into the person and gave a range of personality traits, a realistic portrayal.  After these 3 questions on impulse I asked the remaining questions that I had asked myself, almost as though the layers had been peeled back. Now I am no longer looking at another person ; my inner conscience, I am that person. To certify this, at the end of the performance I removed my glasses; a resemblance of true identity; noting to hide this.  I discarded an idea to look at myself through a mirror to realize my true identity. I found it hard to stage it without it restricting my movements. I felt unnatural to perform such a gesture.

Finally, in an evaluation my peers thought it was a brave performance, and interesting to mix the recorded and live self.  Now, to play with a metaphor to the scene. Perhaps, I could add a comic metaphor , to try to present more of a juxtaposition between the live and recorded self.

 

Works Cited

Carroll, Noel (19979) “Amy Taublin: The Solo Self, The Drama Review, 23 (1) March: 51-58.

 

Amy Taubin’s article The Solo Self has helped me in progressing with my solo performance ideas. A solo performance needs to be signified as a “display of virtuosity designed to elicit the spectator’s admiration and awe” (Caroll, 1979, 51). One solo performance artist, Marina Abromovic undertook one experiment, Rhythm 10 in which the artist would stab a knife between her fingers, yet whenever she cut herself she started the process again. I wanted to project feelings of bravery into my performance. In this test she tested the limits of audience and performer. I wanted this to also affect my performance.Marina proceeded to inform the audience they could do anything they wanted with her and gave them a  collection of objects, including a gun and a knife to do whatever harm on her they wished. This aided the audience as a form of therapy from their own fears. Another device I would like to replicate in my performance.

Marian Abromovic really inspired me thus. In another performance she ate a raw onion ; after each bite she uttered words from a  script, or have a conversation. I loved the idea of there being two images, one of a repetitive action and one of language to incite the audience’s viewpoint, and wanted to incorporate this into my work. Metaphorically, just as I visualized in  my performance , the actor is peeling back different layers to reach the suffering. My puns become gradually worse until the suffering erupts. Marina further excited me in her belief that subtext has it’s own definition. There is a subtext to my puns and this is completely different to the humour that is exposed. She focused and was interested in the harmony between body and mind, something else which I would like to explore.

Some of Marina’s  ideas can be explained in this video .

The work of solo practitioner Anna Deveare Smith also inspired me in that she was adamant that solo work should be created with real voices not a story. Thus, a monologue should be shaped by the culture and characteristics of reality.  This is one of the adding factors illustrating a aura of unsettling emotions; another feeling I want to create.

Now to build on this through more comic theory and explore where my mind can take me for another 5 minute performance .

 

Works Cited

Carroll, Noel (19979) “Amy Taublin: The Solo Self, The Drama Review, 23 (1) March: 51-58.

 

Learning from theoretical texts, I have improved upon a basis for my performance,.  I had the idea of making fun of death. I have amateur experience doing stand up gigs, my comedy style revolving around puns. My humour is  a succession of quick-fire play on words but how could I relate this to an aura of death ? This led me to the notion of puns about illness and dying.  Yet, I felt that for the performance to work I needed to have a punchline, but this must be serious. To track this back to my grief I wanted to express that I had lost my Nana, emanating in general terms to anyone’s losses in life. It could basically be  set as a succession of rapid puns about death. These would mirror “personal observations, convictions and fears ” (Bonney, 1999, xii).  I next had another idea, what if i tried to present my comedic gig without my glasses?  My glasses seem to add to my humour. What if something that is part of your identity is driven out of you?

I then began to realize that for me to be funny I would need my glasses. Though, what I really wanted to show was how something changes me ; what makes someone funny and that I have another less sunny side. Bearing this thought in mind, I entered  without my glasses on , then as soon as they became part of me, (and I put my glasses on) so did my comic styling. ‘My nana’s dead’ was supposed to be the punchline, but then how is this funny? Have the boundaries been pushed too far? This needs to be delivered  without my glasses.Thus, after a succession of awkward laughter expected beforehand, the punchline is delivered with absolute sincerity. This will be unexpected and provoke  possible guilt from the audience- should I have been laughing at those jokes when they are focused on people dying? This hopefully will pervade a reaction by society and thus will mirror a reality that can apply to anyone. I want the audience to think something about my work. If they can leave the performance by either “supporting, critiquing, collaborating with and advocating for” (Bonney, 1999, xv) my work I will be happy.

I next needed to add emotion to this piece .It is true that “all solo performers are storytellers” (Bonney, 1999, xiii) and I needed to incorporate this into my work. To aid me with delivering my monologue I turned to the solo performer Spalding Gray, and his monologue Swimming To Cambodia.

The presentation on Spalding Gray really excited me as I felt that he provides a really honest approach to his monologues. This could be administered through his eye contact and facial expressions. However, his monologues not only were focused in his experiences but related to real life. His changes of voice and tone in which he is speaking really inspired me too.

 

The thoughts that have gone into his monologue are those of deep depression. He was involved in a car accident and his mother died , all contributing to what seems to be a reconstruction of his memory. This in reality is what my (stand up) monologue will be based on. He looks upon society to evoke emotions. This enables him to deliver Swimming To Cambodia with an intimacy with the audience. The line of fiction of reality is blurred.  I would like this  also to be true of my monologue. As long as the audience are gaining something, the actor reflects society in the world and the text is original; the performers own point of view (Curtis, University of Lincoln, 2014) then the three main elements are present.

The final features which drew me to Spalding Gray’s performance though, and which I will replicate are physical gestures to tell a story, and the ability to play with the audience ; enjoying the moment and stepping outside of oneself to deliver the piece. Finally, the eyes drew me in. I feel that if I can interlock the audience with complete focus throughout then the intimacy which I want to create will be engaged.

However, once I look at setting the scene and the mood of the audience how can my solo performance change?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Bonney, Jo (ed.) (2000) Extreme Exposure: an anthology of solo performance texts from the twentieth century, New York: Theatre Communications Group

Curtis, Martin (2014) ‘Solo Perfomrance’ lecture , BA Drama Seminar, Lincoln: University of Lincoln, 3 March.