Author: Jodie Connolly

What is art?… baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more… Or perhaps, do in the case of performance art.

 Marina Abramovic 

I have explored the depths of Performance art and ‘Pain as performance’ as my topic for dissertation. I have undergone creating my own performance art works in the past years, exploring simplicity and the idea of everyday things as performances. To the extreme, i indulged myself into the exploration of physical pain and endurance for a performance called ‘LIMITE’ of which was very successful and very eye-opening. Now, i love performance art. But i have done it already. For this reason i want to steer away from what people may expect of me. I want to explore all kinds of performance styles with the chance i have, but using my experiences from my study and practice of the works of Marina Abramovic, Orlan and Kira O Reilly. I want to explore the body as site for performance, but i want to combine all elements of music, poetry and theatrics with this- instead of keeping the two separate.

Abramovic is somebody of which I have always been influenced and inspired by. The work we looked at including her performances such as rhythm 5. and rhythm 0 are works I have admired for many years. I feel personally compelled by  her willingness to go to such limits of performance, and her ability to use performance art in a way that explores the body and pain as representation for society. Her performances challenge the audience to think, be shocked, and in some cases like that of ‘rhythm 0’ and ‘the artist is present’ she invites the audience to be a part of the performance.

Marina Abramović: Advice to the Young (2013)

How do you know if you are an artist?

Am i good enough to venture into spoken song? This is something i have never openly done…

I took some advice from Abramovic herself, noting that she too went from performance art and site specific performances to theatre.

‘If you wake up in the morning and you have some ideas and (…) it becomes almost an obsession (…) you have to create (…) you’re definetely an artist but you’re not a great artist you’re just an artist. To be a great artist there’s all different types of rules, and you really have to… it’s like you’re obsessed… it’s like there’s nothing else on your mind (…) it’s the complexity and intensity you put into your work and also the great artist has to be ready to fail (…) the real artist always changes their territories and they go to the land they’ve never been. (…) Ready to fail, that makes a great artist.’

 (Marina Abramovic- Advice to the young (2013) 

 

Spalding Gray

‘As careers in the theatre go, talking about yourself was one of the more improbable ways to make a living until Gray (1941-2004) honed it to a fine art.’ (Young, 2012)

 

 Spalding Gray Segment From Swimming To Cambodia (On Cold War Soldier) (2012) 

“I like telling the story of my life better than I do living it.”

THE ART OF STORY TELLING

Gray is a solo performer known widely for his ability to tell stories. When exploring him in depth as a class, it was clear that he had a raw talent to perform stories, voices and characters by himself. Gray uses minimal set, costume and lights, yet we become captured within his performance alone. It is through his ability to multi-role, his eye contact and his general manner of performing that i have studied and noted as pointers within my own performance. I love his quote, stated above. It is something of which my piece can relate with, wherein i enjoy telling of how i am scared but still hopeful of the future, yet it terrifies me to be in it! The unknowing, the uncertainty. I enjoy the way that Gray tells his story, with solid eye contact and it is as if there’s no thought going into his words. He does not have to remember what was said, it is just like a quick retelling, a sort of offloading of his day. Almost as if he is a lifeless body that just tells a story, his body and mind is the tool for transferring a story to us. He isn’t wasting time imitating other people through an abundance of body language, costumes or even really variating his voice at all. This is intriguing, and also something i found works ironically well in certain performances. A graduate within our uni was very successful within his solo performance as he played Margaret Thatcher, yet kept the same Yorkshire male accent that he had, whilst dressed entirely as her. (Callum West, Solo Performance 2015)

I am beginning to realise at this stage that simple is effective.  Gray simply tells his story.

What i can link his work to is the style within ‘With a Little Bit of Luck‘, when Sabrina Mahfouz tells her story, even with the accompaniment of live music and lights she simply stands and delivers her story to the audience. It is the notion of music and staging as an accompaniment to her performance, and not the other way around that i want to achieve. I do not want my set or costume and music to distract from the words in any way.

“Actor Spalding Gray has a way with words. Especially in the spoken form he’s made famous: monologues delivered in direct personal address to a live audience. Intelligent, funny and disarmingly confessional, he sits at a table with only a glass of water and his outline of key words, ports-of-call in his freewheeling, autobiographical odysseys that strike resonant chords of cultural anxiety in his listeners”(Brandes, 1992)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yJPZfFOrsc

Matt Chewiwie’s Artist Statement (2008)

Upon watching this video i was influenced by Matt Chewiwie’s love for life, his optimism and his ability and need to make people laugh.

“I’m not trying to tell anyone how or what to think or trying to tackle any type of big political or heavy issues”

I really admire the fact that Chewiwie’s work administers a degree of metaphor, and leaves the audience with a lesson or feeling towards life and that is, not to take it as seriously. He does this, without actually telling the audience or viewer directly to do that.

 References:

Marina Ambramovic – Advice to the young (2013) Youtube Video added by Louisiana Channel. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ck2q3YgRlY

Matt Chewiwie’s Artist Statement (2008) Youtube Video added by Matt Chewiwie. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yJPZfFOrsc

Spalding Gray Segment From Swimming to Cambodia (On Cols War Soldier) (2012) Youtube Video added by Videowave Music. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YcVey0vQ9w

As i enter this module, i am filled with excitement and hope!

I have a real chance here to advocate my talent. I recall my A-level performance (a while back and yet) it is still my fondest memory of acting that i have. I performed ‘Silv’s Longing Speech’ from Berkoff’s ‘East‘ and grabbed the opportunity by the big metaphorically mimed ‘snarling beasty’  (Berkoff, ‘Silvs Longing Speech’, 1975).  What enthralled me most was my ability to mimic other voices, jumping from the character of silv to that of the male companion ‘Les’. With everything i have learnt four years on, i am excited to explore this in a deeper depth, creating my own material that should be reflective of the skills i have harnessed since developing from that point onwards.

Distractions. Dreams. Goals. Routines.

At this stage in the process of forming a solo performance I have an abundance of ideas. As I reflected to my class members in our first session together through practical exercises, I am a dreamer. As a group, we introduced ourselves as solo performers by presenting a short story about ourselves. Now this task i instantly found challenging because when left to just think about things my mind becomes a wanderer.

Dion- The wanderer (2009)

This song came into my mind during the five minutes we had to escape the space and think of a prepared story… of which, it soon became time to go back in and perform. So, i decided that this in itself should be my story to tell.

I am so present, but my mind never ever is. It is over consumed with worries. They can go from the darkest worries that consume my life. Those vary from family experiences, heartache, pain, fear, regret and all the bad things that have collected a hefty messy pile in my life. However distracting these things are, I always think about the fact that I am here. I am present. This is life. Experiences. Sometimes this world sucks… so I go to my own. I described my mind as a vortex to my class members. We can play word association games in drama warm-ups and my response will be something almost impossible to relate in any way. But to me, my mind would’ve worked in 2.0 seconds to associate coconuts to bats and then ill be off thinking about where bats live, like the scene in ace ventura.. in the cave.. the wachuti tribe… how i’ve never seen wild bats… but I love wildlife.. how I want to live in a cave, how I want to travel, how I want to live off the land, be at one with nature, venture, ramble, feed my soul… how can I get there? I have so much that stops me. Money – Family – Relationships… opportunities that come easy for others don’t for me and this is forever something that supresses my dreams. You can establish at this point my ability to rant, ramble on and get passionate about all of this stuff.

my intention however, is not to complain, ever. Nor to present a piece of work reflecting the restrictions of my life but the energy and passion I maintain to keep positive that I will make it. Uni is ending. Three years over, the three years away from worries and home life, where I could constantly channel my talent, producing and progressing everyday. Then when it is over… what? Now there is extreme pressure on me to succeed, because simply I do not want to return home or to a life like that of my father. Nor do I want to lose myself and my imaginative talent because of those worries and stresses that unfortunately I am faced with when I return home. I know I cannot be in an office job. Lets just say I was a born wanderer. I am of hippie nature, I must be, a gypsy. I despise what society is, social networking, lack of communication, relationships, manners, love and I have a constant need to be surrounded by nature, everything takes my breath away. The simplest things. BUT in no way does the current world we live in..

 

I digress, but to include my feelings helps me make a form of what it is I really want to represent. That is, ultimately

the fear of life.

Adulthood. Working life. Fears of which we all have. Mine personally may be more extreme because the fear of life is enhanced by my personal experiences and my personal woes yet, this is relatable to everybody right now. Especially to my fellow drama students who all stand strong with

creative minds

that I know none of us wish to let go to waste. I think it is awfully important to produce a show that has a strong

audience/performer relationship.

I Feel if I can connect on this same level I can make an enjoyable, bittersweet performance,

highlighting the worries but maintaining the hope.

 

 

so here goes. at this early stage my ideas have been influenced by a performance I saw called ‘with a little bit of luck’ at the LPAC last year

(With a Little Bit Of Luck, 2016).

 

This performance took garage music from the 90’s, performed live, with one actor telling a story about her life and as each event happened, a new song that had extremely relevant lyrics would accompany her talking. For example, the song ‘with a little bit of luck we can make it through the night’ – this was played as she described her boyfriend and her being in a club and him trying to get away with having drugs on him. I was really inspired by the way her story was told. It was raw. It was relatable. The songs too added so much to expressing the feelings that she was demonstrating. She was poetic, almost talking in a slow rap style.

I have always been a fan of music that incorporates different styles. Plan B for example, describes a lot of his stories, very cleverly, through talking over music and a short chorus of song. I was always indulged into his style of rap, and the different approach to accompanying that kind of story telling with slow music, country style / acoustic guitar. It wasn’t just rap, it wasn’t aggressive, it was melancholy, and I loved it. I enjoy the poetic aspect of this.

Charmaine –  Plan B (2009)

I then recently heard a song by Mahalia called ‘Back Up Plan’. The song begins with just one piano chord slowly repeated and her voice talking ‘teachers used to say, what do you want to be. Everytime shed say singer they all look at her blankely like; ‘Darling, darling.. you need to have a back up plan.’ …like what? she said. working in Matalan? well, actually miss, ive already applied..’ -this song is autobiographical and she goes from being herself, to herself at school, and to playing the teacher. I was so engulfed by this type of spoken song. The chorus ‘This don’t matter to me, soon i’ll be on tv, and I wont, have to dream no more. This aint got nothing on me, soon i’ll be VIP ill be making money, being a G, going properly’.

 Mahalia – Back Up Plan – #DiaryOfMe (2016)

I then heard another song called ‘Breakthrough’ – By Trwbador feat. Essa.  It begins with the sound of a harp. Then a soft womens voice, choral, singing ‘getting by’ and then a deep fast rap accompanies this. It talks about graduating, tripping on the curb, getting back up, wanting to get away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qvtT_7XW0s

 TRWBADOR feat. ESSA – Breakthrough (2014) 

My idea then…

I imagine an office setting. Myself in a routine. Perhaps typing something specific and learnt for the job role. Perhaps I begin to make music with the keyboard or my pen. it begins a daydream. I do not want to be there. This addresses control in society, identity and the work place. I am there because I need money but this is not my life. This is bad for me. My mind is elsewhere. So, the music in someway comes in and out and I poetically perform a spoken song out loud about my dreams. Where I really want to be. My inner monologue. The thoughts that are going on whilst I sit there doing something I don’t want to be doing.

 

References:

Dion – The Wanderer ( Alternate Stereo Verison ) (2009) Youtube video added by robin haugsnes [online] Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tX3AnKiYb0

Mahalia Back Up Plan – #DiaryOfMe (2016) Youtube Video added by Mahalia [online] Available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUMdRQsULmg

Silv’s Longing Speech, East By Steven Berkoff, (1975)

Plan B – Charmaine (2009) Youtube Video added by ImComa [online] Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPAFvnxfGYI

TRWBADOR feat. ESSA – Breakthrough (2014) Youtube Video added by owletmusic [online] Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qvtT_7XW0s

With A Little Bit of Luck by Sabrina Mahfouz (2016) – Teaser Trailer | Paines Plough (2016) Youtube Video added by Paines Plough [online] Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_PpevR5KQI