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.
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