Month: February 2017

For this session we looked at creative writing. We were given a list of prompts in the previous session and set a task to take one of these prompts or anything that interests us and create some text around it. An example of some prompts are:

• Text on a piece of cardboard.
• Text written in condensation.
• A letter written at 3am from war.
• Text to a love one who has died.

With having an interest in both World Wars I took inspiration from the one regarding a letter written at 3am from the front line. Knowing about soldier’s letters home to those they loved I took my knowledge of this era and applied it to the task. I created a fictional soldier with a fictional address and recalled common experiences he would have faced in his time in the trenches.

While writing I related the text back to the title and dropped hints of why the letter might not have arrived but never confirmed. This meant the audience would be able to make their own opinions on what happened to the soldier writing this letter.

As I wrote this I tried to embody the emotions and thoughts that would have been going through this individual. Being passionate about the subject I have done a lot of in-depth research over the past few years so I was confident enough to portray this. I wanted this young Englishman who hid his fear behind humour when writing to his girlfriend back home. He has a guilty conscious and nobody to talk to. Whether he would have sent this letter at all I don’t know. It could have been an escape to put it down onto paper when he couldn’t express his feelings to anyone, it could have been intercepted or he could have been killed.

I debated erasing sections of the letters that he would have regretted putting down but I feared how this would have come across in spoken word. However it has given me thought of how to experiment with something like this in future. I also considered whether to actually name Jamie or list him as soldier due to the fact so many letters similar to this would have been written from both sides. If I were to develop this I would strip back the personal details and make it a more conventional letter which could apply for any soldier fighting in any war across history.

Laurie Anderson

When looking into the solo artist Anderson I found her use of music rather interesting and the minimalist side to her tracks. She doesn’t just present a conventional song with a catchy melody and the conventional band instruments. Instead she uses a device similar to a loop pedal within her songs to create repetition which is what caught my attention.

My Performance

In my performance I want to tackle the idea of auditions and the idea of “when is enough enough?” and “when is it time to stop?” after all the constant rejections. I want to embody the role of the actor attending auditions yet you can never actually get through the full audition piece as the rejections interject and you move on. The use of a loop pedal or this idea of repetition can be used for every negative rejection phrase being looped. So it may start with “Next” which then brings in “No thank you” and this noise of rejection would just build and build into this mass of noise of negativity. This would then drown out any sound I am making for the audition and then the question would be asked for “How much longer do I do this?”

Anna Deavere Smith

We looked at the solo artist Smith who interviews subjects and then takes part of their interview and expands on it to then create a character. Looking through some of her work we saw how she would use a particular item of clothing to represent a character. For example, a stetson to signify a middle aged Texan woman. When she would take off the hat and then hold a walking stick she would be come an elderly gentleman. It was this swift change of character without the need for complicated costume that I personally found interesting. Although the item of clothing was to signify the change of character, he posture, voice and pace would all change as well to suit the person she was recapturing from her interviews.

The Three Hats

We were set the challenge to find three different hats and create a performance from that. I personally struggled with this exercise but found it useful and enlightening all the same. I took the interpretation to create something realistic from a conversation I’d witnessed during the previous evening. I took three of my friends and certain traits about them. One is always worrying about his dissertation and asking people to fill in his surveys, another is rather quiet and isolated with music while they work on their dissertation and then the other rarely talks about theirs, only that they go home most weekends and make toast all the time.

I set the space out to simulate the layout of the living room where we spend most of the time around the television. Having the first character enter as he usually does and just burst into conversation with his friends and the rest follow into conversation.

When looking back on my performance I feel as though my weaknesses were around the voice and posture of the characters. If I were to do it again I’d ensure to rehearse as many times as possible to get the dialogue and authenticity of the characters made obvious to an audience who doesn’t know my friends like I do.

The art of storytelling is something that has passed through the ages. History is made of stories that have been passed down through the generations.

In our workshop we had a challenge to talk for a minute about a memory or moment in our life.

We would remake Spalding Gray’s style of sitting behind a desk and talking to an audience.

I chose the subject of my brother and I going to Manchester to see Panic! At The Disco live as we had both recently bonded over the bond after years of not having much in common and being quite distant. It was the first time we’d both been allowed to go somewhere of great distance without any supervision. Due to the train times we couldn’t get the late train back and decided to book a hotel, spend the Friday in Manchester and get the afternoon train back to Wales.

After arriving too early to book into our hotel we decided to sit on the food court balcony and get a warm drink as the weather was miserable. It was after some nice chatting about what we both plan to do with ourselves as we’re at crucial stages in our lives that I received a text from my mum saying my brother’s high school have messaged informing parents of a Science ISA exam that attendance is mandatory for taking place on the Friday. My brother swore he knew nothing about it, a little later he said his teachers had told him it would be next Friday. We eventually pried the truth out of him and he had known about the exam but was worried Mum would say he couldn’t attend the concert because of it.

Due to this we attended the concert but then had three hours sleep, had to get the five o’clock train back to Flint from Manchester. Sat in the abandoned Manchester Piccadilly Station for half an hour then got onto an empty train with the other early risers attending their jobs. Our mum picked us up from station at 7am only for us to realise the signed poster from the lead artist was missing. I still won’t forgive him for the mess up he caused. Although he did make it to the exam on time.

Through this story I intended to tell the story about the relationship between my brother and I and how the first big bonding moment between us was ruined (or at least an experience) due to his lack of organisation.

Spalding Gray took moments from his life and told them to an audience. I attempted the same by taking an event from my life and opening up to an audience about it. Even if it hadn’t been as confessional as some of his work, it was still a prominent moment in my life and something I probably will never forget.

However in our workshop we did an exercise which involved asking and answering personal questions. It was interesting to see how you opened up to different people depending on how well you associate with them. Although I answered every question the feeling of vulnerability and being uncomfortable was noticeable within myself. It was an interesting challenge which pushed the boundaries at some point.

I think that is a key part to storytelling to open up to your audience as it forms a bond of trust between you and them. It also makes it engaging and if it is true and a genuine experience you are able to deliver it more naturally that if you were making it up.

The Delayed Train

What is considered to be performance? Can every day life be a performance? Does a performance require acting or is it as realistic to life as possible.

The 10:54 from Stockport to Sheffield which arrives at 11:34 gives me exactly 10 minutes to change over to catch the 11:44 to Lincoln Central. That means I have ten minutes to get from one end of the platform, to the stairs, over the bridge, down the other set of stairs and walk to the very end of the platform to get to 4B. Usually that is possible even with the herds of people you have to make your way through.

Except most of the time the 10:54 to Stockport is late so the average time I have is about four minutes. The last journey I caught the train was fifteen minutes late. This resulted in me missing my connection and then having to wait an hour in Sheffield station.

That’s a hour to entertain myself while sat in a cold waiting room.

Can my actions be considered a performance?

If Schechner states that “every day is a performance?” the why can’t it be?

It is a solo performance as I sit there with my luggage and answer text, scroll through Facebook, listen to music or flick through Netflix. It involved no conversation except those through text. Are my audience the other passengers waiting for their different trains that lead them to a destination that will continue their day? Their own private lives?

I think the train station waiting room is an incredibly interesting place as there are so many individual lives and backstories all sat in one room for a limited amount of time. It’s like a short glimpse into these peoples lives and I don’t know what their name is, who they are or where they’re going. One may be carrying a guitar which makes me assume he’s a musician or he could be bringing it to his son he’s only allowed to see on weekends for a fourteenth birthday presents. A woman with a dog, an elderly couple sorting out their tickets. It’s fascinating to try and piece all of these stories together but never truly knowing the answer.