In lesson, we had to present our ideas through the third person. It had to be reflective of your style of performance, and so I decided to perform this rendition through a poem – in the style of how I would perform my actual final piece.
it read :
‘The girl sits at her desk
There is a computer
She is typing
She is huffing and puffing
she is irritated
She checks her watch
she smirks to herself about a funny memory that entertains her
she spins on her chair
she tries to balance a pen on her tash
time passes
she is bored
she is tired
she is restricted
her head falls
she enters a dream world
where she would rather be
she stares into the distance as her daydream consumes her, a poetic revelation takes over..
the sounds of the office create a musical symphony about where she really wnats to be and, how this life is not meant for her yet she, feels like she is wasting her life,
by working in a place filled with such strife.
her mind is away in another world, there is more to life for this young girl,
but she has found herself working 9 to 5 in order for her to stay alive.
but what is life if it’s not really lived?
the purpose of the song will be expressive of this, So she’ll walk around the room as the lights change to red,
and purple and blue to show the dreams within her head.
A table and chair will be set over there, as if in a work space, as if others are there.
But her mind will transform the scene of confinement, to smoke machines and colours to make it more vibrant,
as if her mind and the song can transport us all there
to remind us about our choices to come, after uni we must let our imaginations still run,
as free as they can, in the adult world, which we’re all about to enter, so let the truth unfurl.
The song will be direct and hard-hitting to some,
she wants to inform how our lives could become.
The importance of living to your full potential, is a message to end this song on, but coincidentally she comes round, the time has come for her to leave work.
another day awaits tomorrow. Another paycheck. Just to get by. She sighs, and begins to walk away. ‘
This song will be a massive influence within my peformance
The whole primes of my performance will be based around this song. the words that read ‘We could have been anything that we wanted to be, with all the talent we have’
I absolutely love the style of song, it is up beat, light hearted yet ironic within the lyrics. It approaches my topic of leaving my audience with a hope for the future yet remembering not to lose sight of the talent they have. Martin reminded me of something very crucial within solo performance. That is, that if you are going to create something auto-biographical, you must be aware of how your audience can either relate, sympathise or be entertained by a personal experience or emotion towards something. Everybody has different opinions, and the most pivotal bit of advice, was not to let your audience feel uncomfortable when hearing a personal view or story, that might leave them feeling ’embarrassed’.
I considered this, and understood completely what this meant. If i am going to move my audience, i do not want to sell them down a river of tears and depress them with my thoughts. Nor do i want to express that my way of thinking is the only way or try and force my beliefs onto a potentially unwilling audience.
I know that my audience are all in the same boat as me- similar in ages, experiences, with similar paths in life. We are all performers, from the examiners, to the tech team, to the audience. With this i realise i have the power to compel the entirety of my audience, if i get the balance correct.
So, with everybody in the same boat, i will sail us all down the river of entertainment.
My aim is to leave my audience feeling on the same wave length, with a story that flows as easily as the current. I want my audience to dive into the waters with me, and endorse themselves into the journey that experiences dips and weaves along the way but ultimately we all go in the same direction.
I have been considering my movement in my performance and the transition of me going into song.
what I have come up with is the idea of taking on the form of a chimpanzee… hold that thought:
I get called a ‘performing monkey’ – this is reflective of everyone in the audience aswell as me, as a physical representation of a monkey I hope to show that I speak for all of us
-In my summer office job, I turned up to a fancy job in the heart of the city, high up, window view. I was head of reception, on my own… my own desk, and big responsibilities for a big business. I HAD NO CLUE HOW OR WHY THEY CHOSE ME. I am an ape! a buffoon! I don’t know what im doing…. I turned up in a dungarees for goodness sake! but that was my role. and so, like training a monkey, I had this responsibility. which obviously meant, anything I got told went in one ear… and then I was looking out of the window at birds, distant smoke… thinking of song lyrics I could make up… I wrote a book on my life as I sat there… I painted my toe nails… I straightened my hair AT THE DESK… I ate… I played music. DISTRACTED. restricted. THE NEED TO BE ACTIVE.
With the monkey idea, (my strong point is physicality as we learned last week in the 3 hats) I want to project an ape, that enters the room, a spectacle of body physicality, and then the office scene enters and its the unknown. a monkey at a computer. hitting buttons that make noise. swirling around on the chair (which I did) putting boxes on my head (which I got caught doing)… we were all born as apes. and then we have developed so much into … this. this is now life. office work. and routine. NO NO. the noises created by the thrashing around of the monkey character begins the music before the spoken song kicks in.
I become more robotic. tames by the computer and the systems. representing how damaging this type of job is for creative minds with so much energy and talent. the routin becomes normal – I become more humanised, by technology, by overriding systems and basically a shit job. so – to escape it – the key board noises take me into a DREAM WORLD…
queue music (created by computer sounds and looping my voice – humming out of boredom etc – a wake up call, from myself to myself but also to the audience.
daydream – office – peoples voices – telling me not to – putting me down – then eventually I become a hard worker – then it’s a shame – im accomplishing shit – proud – new person – I tell co-workers off for dreaming –
*do a french mime act and bump into the wall you put there in your next character**
Stuck In The Middle With You – Stealers Wheel (2010)
ITS WEEK 4 AND WE’RE HALF-WAY THROUGH THE MODULE!…
Stuck in the middle with you (solo)… and i’m wondering what it is i should do… It’s so hard to keep a smile on my face (what with dissertation)… and with solo i’m all over the place!
But what a way to warm up today with our bodies to music! As i enter the room, Martin plays …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z1kRhiPE0E
The Streets “Weak Become Heroes” (2007)
We split the room into groups of four (ish) and had to connect our bodies through touch in some sort of way, and travel around the room to this music.
HELLO GLIMPSE OF HAPPINESS!!!!
The Streets, being a main influence to my performance, and what with the woes of dissertation bringing us all down and ideas for solo taking an unfortunate back seat, this was a wonderful way to inspire us all and let our minds and bodies just go with the flow, let loose and be free in the space.
Faye, Chris and I held hands and walked backwards in and out of each other, it was impossible not to laugh! And what it did was warm us all up and fill us with positive energy, a way to kick out the stresses of the current moment.
This task influenced me to consider my movements as we walked around the room. This kind of music is the style I want to incorporate into my own piece. As we walked I felt my posture develop – for example the ‘rude boy’ sound that elevated from the song naturally made my body react into a ‘geezer’ styled walk (arms swinging, chest raised, bop in the walk). I have a natural ability to move with music, and have always had keen interest in instruments and lyrics. I have always been very influenced and moved emotionally by music, and i love the fact that the streets approach real life topics of heart break, love, drugs, family etc. and accompany the topics with upbeat music.
The lead singer, Mike Skinner had some words of wisdom:
“Hip hop,(…) draws on different principles to other music. It’s not purely sonic pleasure: it’s conflict and action and story. It’s the old way of making records – which is rhythm and noise – combined with a little bit of The A-Team, and that’s exactly what I love about it …”
“with my opinions, and reacting the way I would react, just in a fictional situation. Apart from that, there’s nothing all that different about it – the songs are just songs, the beats are just beats”
” Music is kind of like my best friend – it’s probably the reason I didn’t go mad when I was a teenager, and it’s probably been the one constant since things have kicked off”
Mike Skinner – The Story of The Streets: “I need to become the right producer” (2012)
This interview sums up The Streets, and how Mike Skinner approaches negative topics, like suicide, heartbreak, life etc yet somehow it transpires to a positive. It also approaches the idea of story telling, and what spoke to me so much more was the knowledge of CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) and this really hit home to me. Recently, i have been struggling when dealing with a few things that have happened in my life. What has been requested of me, is to receive CBT to help me cope. But like Skinner, music is my healer. It always has been, and my solo performance in general has been my escape. This has been my therapy. To get some of my worries, and turn them into a story for material to share with the world and turn into a positive. I want to challenge myself, to be real, vulnerable, open and honest and just tell a story.
Mike Skinner Interview with Laura Leishman (2014)
“I’ve made music that has been difficult for people to digest at times”
Of all of The Streets music i have been very moved and influenced by this song.
I like how the words link together, how clever the words come together. The theme of being ‘Puzzled’ and mentions of solving life as if it is a ‘crossword’,
‘loving isn’t easy you can’t google the solution to people’s feelings’
‘sometimes you have to find out for yourself, sometimes you never find the answer’
‘choosing to loose time instead of doing what i like to do’
TIM ETCHELLS
We had a look at some ‘TIM ETCHELLS – ON PERFORMANCE WRITING’ (Huxly, Noel, 1996)
This piece of writing focused on developing our ability to create text for our performances. At this stage, it seems most of us are strong with our ideas and concepts, yet we are struggle to make any relevant or entertaining material. What Etchells text taught us is that we are all probably thinking way too much into this. Like with the streets, They aren’t particularly saying anything strongly poetic or intelligent, it is just stories. It is mostly the way in which it is performed that makes it so magical. The words that we can all relate to, the everyday topics, conversations and situations.
This paper, ‘talks about writing words to be seen and read on stage rather than spoken. It talks about lists, about improvisation, about reading, about whispering ‘
It talks of how text can be key to performance but it does not have to be extremely well thought out. As it tells of how the company Forced Entertainment come up with text for their work, through lists, that can vary from
‘ A text of lines from half remembered songs’
‘A text for people to find in their wallet, days later, when you are forgotten’
(Huxly, Noel, 1996)
As a task, we have to create our own list, and perform it to the group.
I chose to do ‘THINGS TO BELIEVE IN’
This followed:
Santa Clause, The tooth fairy, hope, love, a dream, that your money to the homeless man is being spent on good things, the NHS, you, me, smoking kills, does it?, peace on earth, crystals for healing, religion, therapy to cure your mental health issues, mental health, am i? that doing well in school will benefit your future job prospects, angels, medicine, not having that last biscuit because that will be the reason you gain weight even after you’ve eaten the packet to yourself, that plastic surgery will make you look better, goggles, can i? diet coke is better for you, the apocalypse, is it? Social media is bad, contour, a cure for cancer, communication, pigs flying, herbal tea to cleanse your body, alcohol to numb the pain, will you? drugs to have a good time, kindness, 8 glasses of water a day….
The Streets “Weak Become Heroes” (2007) Youtube Video added by KRZYSZTOF KRYWALSKI Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z1kRhiPE0E
Stuck In The Middle With You – Stealers Wheel (2010) Youtube Video added by That 80’s Show! Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DohRa9lsx0Q
Mike Skinner Interview with Laura Leishman (2014) Youtube Video added by Laura Leishman Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZjsFXQNuEs
The lesson began with an improvised activity wherein we had to enter the room as if we were in an AA meeting. We introduced ourselves as characters on the spot, where Martin interrogated us for our stories and backgrounds and reasons for being here. He asked us to tell him our goals and what we are going to do to change our positions.
This task was so helpful for our imaginative exploration, the spontaneity of the task helped to not think too deeply into a character, it was just whatever came to us in that moment. What i found difficult however, was that an AA meeting is one all too close to home for me and my experiences. In turn, this helped me massively develop my own creative ideas. My concerns with the future, and daydreaming and keeping hopeful are always being effected by the amount of empathy i have as a person.
During this time, i had been struggling with coming to terms with my situation at home, my father, being an alcoholic who is receiving help. Unfortunately some awful things had been happening as a result of this that i had struggled dealing with. What this task reminded me, was that as much as this is at the back of my mind, acting/drama is something that i can use as an escape. And i never want to lose sight of that. I’m terrified of letting things affect me so much that
i lose sight of myself and my dreams and goals in life.
Which is what this had recently been doing to me- particularly with my dissertation. Without this being a focal point- i have considered mentioning how struggles in life can make you lose sight of yourself in my final piece. I want my final piece to be a message, that no matter what we face,
if you have talents, goals and dreams, don’t let them die.
3HATS
For the next task we had to bring 3 different hats into the lesson, and have a prepared stint of three different characters (represented by each hat).
I had a cap, for which i portrayed a boy- a ‘chavvy’ procrastinator, who was convincing the audience not to bother doing work, to stay up and get drunk with ‘me’.
I then moved to the middle chair and put on a ladies day hat, of which i played the part of My mums friend from work. I used verbatim, to tell the story of which she had said to me recently, upon giving advice on my dissertation. She is a Indian lady, so of course i adopted her accent and style of talking. Her soft voice, her movements, and the way she held herself. Of course this contrasted very much from the stance i took as a young male where i sat with legs spread, kissed my teeth, and held my posture as a male. For this character i sat upright, legs crossed and moved my arms as i spoke in a slow feminine manner.
My final character was of James Crawford- a friend and fellow student. I vamped up his personality, of hippie-type persona,
“peace and love maaaannn”
I represented his gangling features within my arm movements, and spoke of how
“i dont even worry about the future man you know, it is what it is, go with the flow, see the world, believe in yourself, travel man relax man its all good baby”
This task was so fun, yet taught me so much about crucial differences within characters and how one person can portray other people so simply. I noticed, when watching other people that it comes down to the simplest of things. tempo of voice, style of voice, the way you hold yourself etc. I learnt that i have a natural ability to imitate others well. I have been told that i do great impressions of others, and so i know that this talent is something i definitely want to incorporate into my final piece. It is so compelling to see others jump from one persona to another, just by simply holding themselves differently. The sheer power that comes from that style of acting i found brilliantly entertaining. No theatrics, just a simple hat that made all the difference. Even without an accessory, it showed to me that our bodies are our main accessory for acting. We do not need to rely on all the (as Tao put it) ‘decorative bullshit’ in order for something to be affective. What it actually does, is take it away from the actors talent, and within solo performances it is better to rely on thyself, as an open actor that isn’t trying to lure the audience into believing that the performer is a character. To dip in and out of characters is honest. Your body is the tool and i intend to be honest with my audience.
My feedback told me that it was interesting that i had the same narrative throughout, as it was the topic of dissertation that connected all the different characters together. It was a solid through line, and my classmates liked how they all had different views but the topic was the same.
So, like with the songs that have previously influenced me, i love the idea of having authoritative voices that come in and out of my performance, performed by me. I intend to include interruptions from these voices. For example, If my speech was to say
“i believe i can be an actress”
i imagine i could respond with questions like
“But darling you should really look into a job that is more reachable”
by just changing my tone.
At this stage i am still developing my ideas concerning an office setting, i imagine myself sitting at a desk daydreaming, wishing there was more. I want to come out of the real world and into my daydreams in the spoken word form. I like the idea of having authoritative voices that interject my daydreams, played by me. I have considered using a micophone to present this, where i can perform as my thoughts to the audience, and when another character interjects i will speak on the microphone to show this.
Considering staging, i have pictures office desks surrounding the stage, with desk lamps that i can go over to and turn on. when my face is lit underneath the light, i can portray that character that is sitting at that desk. This enables me to go in and out of character, and use the stage more. These ideas are still developing, and i have faced mind blocks lately of where to take this performance. I know what i want to say, but not yet how to make it into a show…
