In the build up to my show, I needed to ensure that my show had the look and feel that I wanted it to. I wanted to create a show that was stripped back whilst also having a strong visual aid to help the narrative. This is why I created the above images in order to give off this feel, before people saw my show whilst also setting them up for the feel it should have.
As the images above demonstrate, I wanted to present my show from the confines of a brick wall – with a particular focus on the building of the wall as I performed. It was with this image I would create a focal point for the audience whilst also keeping my show minimalist so that the main focus of the performance becomes my stories rather than my actions.
I was inspired by Jamie Wood’s O NO! when thinking of these ideas as his set was striking and simple, visually that is. It allowed for moments of the performance to have a backdrop to the conversation Wood was having with the audience without allowing the distraction of extravagant set – which could take away from the performance Wood was trying to create.
“It’s messy and fractious, and it’s punctuated by the gunshots that rang out on a cold New York evening 35 years ago. It builds to a cacophonous re-enactment that knocks the final bars of A Day in the Life into a cocked hat. Wood’s hat is permanently cocked, like a readied gun. He breaks rules, smashes comfort zones, and all the while knocks out a cheeky, irreverent love letter to a much maligned artist of continued relevance and impudent profundity.” (Pringle, 2015)
It is without a doubt that Wood’s work has influenced my own to no end – from his laid back, humourous approach to performance all the way down to the relationship he has with the audience. In the end, I hope that my performance will be what Wood’s and so many other solo performer’s works will be: something that “cannot exist without an audience” (Gardner, 2015)
Works Cited:
Gardner, L. (2015) Going solo: how the one-person show is gazing beyond the navel. The Guardian, 2 September. [Online] Retried from http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2015/sep/02/solo-one-person-show-edinburgh
Pringle, S. (2015) Jamie Wood – O No! The Stage, 10 August. [Online] Retrieved from https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2015/jamie-wood-o-no/
Wood, J. (2016) O NO!. [Performance] Jamie Wood & Wendy Hubbard (Dir.) Lincoln: LPAC, 4 February.
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