There is without a doubt a huge variance in what can be called a solo-performance. When stripped down to its bare essentials there is only one prerequisite, which is astoundingly obvious: there must be a single performer. This condition being the only thing to be strictly adhered to means that the content itself can be whatever is possible – the sky really is the limit.
That freedom can be restricting, as it means so many paths are open but the one to take is not obvious. When in this situation I find it useful to just go with an idea and see what comes from it, and if it must be scrapped that is not a bad sign, as self-criticism is vital when creating your own work.
When I sat down and just began developing something out of nothing, ideas came and were noted, and being critical of myself I can say confidently this idea will not be my final performance, but as an exercise in creativity, it was fun.
Here is my first ‘draft’:
The audience enter the space and take their seats on umbrella protected picnic tables.
There is a grid creating a mottled shadow effect within the space and the sound of waves can be heard.
Three high intensity lights snap on and are aimed at the back wall, whilst the sound of thunder approaching begins to be heard.
A man walks into the light and says… “Dulce et decorum est… or something like that”.
The thunder sounds begin to morph into the sound of jets flying overhead – a bombing run.
The man takes out a bag of Doritos and begins offering them to the audience making small talk as he moves around the space, he then moves back into the focusing light and starts reciting a poem…
Castro’s Poncho
And Ignacio’s nachos
That’s right your Doritos
Are powdered with the Syrian’s bricks//
I eat chilli heatwave to feel a
Sickly-sweet rave:
Over-sleeping and over-eating
If only we could eat those too.
Obesity and obese cities
The planet needs a gastric band but
We can’t rely on God’s hand so
Hand-some Maradona will have to do,
Or whatever circus is new//
Bread and circuses
Take our empty kisses and send them back to the sea.
One day soon, the tides of the teratomic moon will swallow us all
With the German-eyes rejoicing.
But for now let’s overfill every part of us
And explode. Leaving only dust/.
As he says “dust” the lights turn reddish and crushed Doritos begin to rain into the space, all whilst “Here Comes The Sun” by The Beatles starts playing.
The man falls to his knees and begins licking the dust from the floor.
Footage of famine and refugees begins to play on every wall of the space, with audio taken from cookery shows, supermarket/fast-food chain adverts begins to play.
The man casts a grotesque shadow in the orange room. His appearance parallels this as the dust covers his face.
The doors are opened and the public are now free to leave.
Clearly this idea stems from a combination of world issues, and my own personal views on those issues. The use of personal feelings and poetry may be a vehicle for an authentic performance. However, the feelings do not emerge as confessional, which I fear may be isolating, or so common that there is little benefit in voicing them. The way in which the performance is presented may also lack the capacity to “transport [the] audience to another world” (Anderson, 2006, 9), though whether it is necessary to do that when the issues discussed are linked so visibly to the current world state is, in my opinion, doubtful.
This idea needs work, but whether it will get any remains to be seen…
Works Cited:
Anderson, M. (2006) Solo: A Guidebook for Individual Performance. NSW, Australia: Currency Press Pty Ltd.