Over summer 2013 I performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  During my time in Edinburgh, I was able to see a variety of performances happening across the city.  Amongst these were many solo shows, a few I was greatly inspired by in terms of creating my own performance.

The first was Bright Lights performed by Léonie Kate Higgins.  ‘The setting is Léonie’s last day at the office before she escapes to pursue fame as a singer, and sees her indulging in anxious day dreaming in which her future in music is disastrous’ (Black, 2013).  What I enjoyed the most was the shifting atmosphere in terms of the dreariness of the office, which was created and supported throughout by ‘looped vocals… utilising the office stationary to create sound illustrations’ (Humphreys, 2013), all that would typically be in an office with additional sound effects such as the ringing of the phone, the filing of papers and photocopying for example.  Throughout the piece, the normality of the set would then transform itself into “bright lights”, the image of fame, leading a famous life, using brighter colours and the lamp on the desk being turned into a microphone.  She was able to portray two different worlds, two different ideals, tinged with authenticity and autobiographical inflections.  What was most effective about this technique was that she was not only able to take the audience on an emotional roller coaster of a journey, from happiness to sadness to laughter which motivated and engaged the audience, but that she was able to change the atmosphere without the audience predicting when and what would happen.

Secondly, she involved the audience in a way that immersed them into the narrative of the tale without physically needing their presence on the stage.  She achieved this by having the audience take on the persona of ‘the new member of staff’ (ibid) that was being trained to take over her job. With her ‘eternally optimistic persona’ (ibid) it made the audience ‘root for her as she naively negotiates every obstacle that’s thrown her way’ (ibid).

Echolalia was a show that centred on ‘Echo, a woman with Asperger’s syndrome preparing for a big job interview’ (Ribchester, 2013). The piece ‘fuse[d] clowning and physical theatre’ that the performer Jen McArthur said ‘portrays people who meet failure time and time again but don’t get fazed by it…there is a strength in the openness; the audience recognises our common humanity and accepts the fact that no one is perfect’ (ibid).  Despite the similarity in theme between this show and Bright Lights there were differences within technique.

Echolalia – *meaningless repetition of another person’s spoken words*

The three concepts I enjoyed the most, were that firstly, McArthur used very large gestures when communicating, gestures that were extremely welcoming and comforting when words were not being spoken.  Secondly, there was a wooden frame that held a large piece of paper over it with the picture of a door, that at the end of the show, McArthur burst threw as a metaphor for her entering into the big wide world.

Optimism. Hope.

Lastly, unlike Bright Lights where the audience were involved from a distance, Echo immersed herself into the audience, addressing us with questions, unafraid to do so and asking very personal questions.  I happened to be an audience member that was asked a fair few such as, ‘What’s your name? How old are you? Are you married?’ (McArthur, 2013b) At the time it felt quite intimidating to be asked so many questions in quick succession of each other, particularly in front of other members of the audience whom I did not know, but simultaneously, it felt very liberating.  It relates back to the idea of the atmosphere and the performance being very open, a space in which anything can be shared or achieved.

The State vs. John Hayes –

In comparison to the other two solo performances seen, this was the one that exploited the form of the monologue the most, with Lucy Roslyn sat on a camp bed, in the corner of the studio sat facing the audience for an hour, simply talking.  Set in Huntsville, Texas, the monologue explored the many dimensions to Roslyn’s character who was ‘about to walk the mile for double murder’ (Currums, 2013).  What is most interesting is that ‘the audience [were] drawn into her claustrophobic, paranoid, painful world’ but instead of feeling disdain and disgust at the crimes that she had committed, her use of language, a subtle and natural Texas accent and stories about her past life, flipped this notion into one of care and sympathy.  Tone and use of atmosphere are two key techniques that inspired me from this performance.

Minimalism. Theatricality.

References:

Black, M. (2013) Ed2013 Theatre Review: Bright Lights Léonie Kate Higgins. [press release] 2 August.  Available from http://www.threeweeks.co.uk/article/ed2013-theatre-review-bright-lights-leonie-kate-higgins/ [Accessed 2 February 2014].

Currums, A. (2013) Innocent! [press release] 14 August.  Available from http://www.broadwaybaby.com/listing.php?id=20710 [Accessed 2 February 2014].

Higgins, L. K. (2013) Bright Lights. [performance] Léonie Kate Higgins (dir.) Edinburgh: C Nova, 25 August. Available from www.leoniekate.com [Accessed 2 February 2014].

Humphreys, L. (2013) Broadway Baby Review: Chasing the Dream. [press release] 26 August.  Available from http://www.broadwaybaby.com/listing.php?id=22818 [Accessed 2 February 2014].

McArthur, J. (2013a) Echolalia. [performance] Jen McArthur (dir.) Edinburgh: C Aquila, 20 August.  Available from http://www.seleconlight.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3341%3Aphilips-selecon-helps-c-venues-led-the-way-in-creative-sustainability-at-edinburgh-festival&catid=2%3Anews&lang=en [Accessed 7 February 2014].

McArthur, J. (2013b) Echolalia. [performance] Jen McArthur (dir.) Edinburgh: C Aquila, 20 August.

Ribchester, L. (2013) Echolalia show explores Asperger’s via clowning at 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. [press release] 30 July.  Available from http://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/article/53006-echolalia-show-explores-aspergers-via-clowning-at-2013-edinburgh-festival-fringe/ [Accessed 2 February 2014].

Roslyn, L. (2013) The State vs. John Hayes. [performance] Lucy Roslyn (dir.) Edinburgh: C Nova, 23 August. Available from http://onestoparts.com/review-the-state-vs-john-hayes-hen-and-chickens [Accessed 7 February 2014].

A performance made up of three parts; The Beginning, The Middle and The End.  Woven into all three were the ideas of love [how it begins, how it ends], youth and ageing.  This last theme focused on was particularly poignant for Pinchbeck who, throughout the piece, was announcing his retirement to the theatre.  In doing so, he was finding acceptance to let go of what was by looking forward to what could be.  In this instance he was passing the task on to Ollie his colleague who is representative of the younger generation of actors fresh from ‘drama school’ (Pinchbeck, 2014). It drew a double dichotomy between old and young, father and son.

Although this show was not a solo performance, there were techniques and aspects within that could be incorporated into a solo show.  The first was the idea of using projection.  In the show, there was a camera on the table at which Pinchbeck was sat placing cards under with words that were telling the feelings/thoughts of the people on the stage without the need for direct speech.  As the show incorporated Shakespearean characters, that interpolated with this idea of love and the first time you were on stage to the last time you were on a stage, the cards provided guidance as to when you were witnessing Act One, Scene Two for example as the characters were indicated solely by props.  Bottom the Donkey was most often conveyed through hand gestures and the ensemble were presented through construction helmets that were placed carefully in regards to the telling and the narrative of the story.  The cards set the scene and because there was no speech, it allowed the audience to get from the story what they wanted and so subtly reversed the focus onto the spectators.   The music in the background also gave a lyricist quality to the structure of the piece that encouraged the audience to feel certain emotions, much like a movie.  Built within this was the idea of altering pace and rhythm with which the cards were placed under the camera, which was sometimes in contradiction to certain feelings felt, the divide between the two emotions portrayed creating a genteel humour.

The power of words.

In the post show discussion, Pinchbeck then talked about how there were no worries about learning the lines as the piece was more to do with tone of voice in communicating what was being said.  The lines were generally read off cards that formed the script that were then littered around the floor to create the ‘aesthetic’ (Pinchbeck, 2014), a word that was repeated throughout to enhance this notion that they were explicitly making the performance un-theatrical.

The second technique that induced this light hearted comedy was when Pinchbeck started to play the recorder but the noise was actually recorded and so when Pinchbeck stopped playing and started to talk, the music continued.  This instinctively prompted the audience to burst into laughter as we fully believed he was playing the musical instrument.  It touched on this idea of the pretend, playing with those notions of what is true and what is not, which I feel is especially relevant to solo performance in that the audience has to gauge how much of the performance is autobiographical and how much is fictional. This was encouraged further as the show, Pinchbeck described, lay between ‘hope and disillusionment’ (Pinchbeck, 2014), the space and time that people inhabit.

Solo –  1) a person who performs, acts, or works alone

2) unaccompanied

3) a person who performs or accomplishes something without the usual equipment

The third technique heard the voice of Pinchbeck’s son speaking out certain phrases to do with the gaining of love, the beauty of love, and the reading out of certain words that had been spoken ten minutes before.  In doing so, it incorporated this idea of repetition that renewed the piece with a freshness and innocence that emphasised the idea of youth and the journey undertaken from childhood to adulthood.  The atmosphere and mood that was created was one of beauty, romance and sweetness.  It was both charming and endearing.

For me, the most interesting concept in terms of what the performance was based on the way words and language were used.  The show looked directly at how writing performs, weaving words and text to find meaning, almost based on streams of consciousness, through which ideas were set up and returned to throughout which was not unlike the structure inherent in Spalding Gray’s monologue, Swimming to Cambodia.  The digression in the piece however, is what allowed the material to flourish and really benefit from in that all these layers that were continually introduced and woven together formed strong concepts and themes that were focussed on interchangeably, both in depth and from afar, that created various view points and stuck all of these elements together.

Art occurs in the gap where things cannot be said.  To perform the unexplainable.

Pentimento – to see through a layer to what was there before

Reference:

Pinchbeck, M. (2014) The Trilogy. [performance] Michael Pinchbeck (dir.) Lincoln: Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, 30 January.

Idiosyncrasy.  Poetry.  Comedy.  Reading.  Cabaret (Bonney, 2000, xi)

Unconventional.

Anti-theatrical.  Immersive.  Authentic.

‘In presenting their personal observations, convictions and fears, [soloists] share an intimacy with their audience, built purely from their live presence and their words’ (Bonney, 2000, xii).

The solo performer is alone on stage.  This is where the audience’s sole attention is directed.  They are the only bodily presence in which the audience can connect and communicate to and from.  The power of words and the ability to communicate things that cannot readily be said immediately shrouds the performer in a veil of personal feelings and emotions that the audience instinctively and intuitively begin to reason if they are autobiographical or not.

It is here however, that questioning around the idea that the ‘solo show expects and demands the active involvement of the people in the audience’ (Bonney, 2000, xiii), comes into play.  Involvement is the key word.  From my introduction into solo performance, I believe the audience has to be involved both consciously and subconsciously to create an internal connection with the performer they see before them on the stage.  This investment into the performance, to an extent, may have a personal resonance with the audience that will encourage both performer and spectator to establish and maintain a connection throughout.  However, involvement also implies that the audience need to be physically present which for me conjures up images of audience involvement as would normally been seen in a theatre for children performance.  If words are the key audience connective, the performance space would be seen as a territory that the audience would recognise but not cross.

To feel without touch.

Reference:

Bonney, J. (2000) Extreme Exposure: An Anthology of Solo Performance Texts from the Twentieth Century. New York: Theatre Communications Group.