Spalding Rockwell Gray was a monologist whose career spanned the better parts of the 1980s and 90s – his work was based upon his own experiences throughout his life. Spanning from his involvement in the film Killing Fields, the death of his mother all the way through to his deteriorating health and christian science. It is stated that “Mr. Gray was the ultimate stand-up solipsist. He made it clear that his work was less about using his personality as a prism to refract the world than using the world to refract his personality” (Brantley, 2007).
Notable Works:
Swimming to Cambodia.
Monster in a Box.
Terrors Of Pleasure
His Style:
Gray’s methodology was dependent on his audience, gray used his audience in order to create a dialogue rather than a monologue. It is often easier to understand what someone is talking about when you feel at less of a distance to them.
https://youtu.be/ieMCKk_7Hs8?t=1153
He uses his autobiographical source information in order to make the topics he mentions more personal to an audience, he also uses his satirical views on life in order to create humour out of his material – however sad or disturbing it may be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJpl1TgwTDA
What I learned:
Spalding Gray’s material has taught me the powerful emotion that can be evoked from autobiographical content – Gray’s conversational style allows for the audience to empathise with Gray and his stories whilst also evoking humour from otherwise unhumourous situations.
I have decided that my work will use autobiography in a way that brings a light hearted touch to darker content – my work may not be as dark as Gray’s material – but I hope to use his style in order to bring humour and understanding to material that is not normally so. My work will try to tell the story of Rotherham and of my experiences with the theatre and acting whilst also being entertaining (hopefully) and informative.
Works Cited:
Brantley, B. (2007) A Master of Monologues, Living on in His Words. New York Times. June 26. [Online] available from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/theater/reviews/07gray.html?_r=0
IFCFilmsVOD. (2012) And Everything Is Going Fine – Trailer. [Online Video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNGe1c0C7Lc
Nichols, D. (2015) Swimming to Cambodia. [Online Video] Available from https://youtu.be/ieMCKk_7Hs8?t=1153
ThoughtCoffee. (2009) Gray’s Anatomy- Spalding Gray – Trailer. [Online Video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJpl1TgwTDA
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