soloperformancefotheringhamd

Since Easter, I have been massively busy on working on my solo performance. Indeed, there has been a reason why I have not been on this blog for a while.

When working on the show, I did a couple of work in progresses and felt that whilst my concept was interesting, it was a difficult topic as I ran the risk of either being insensitive and narcissistic or too self indulgent about the topic and this was a key problem that rose in my work-in-progress. Indeed, the show, whilst focused on a personal story of my friend was actually coming across as if the incident had happened to me. So, with that, I decided to rethink about the work that I had done as whilst I was concerned about the topic, I felt that I did not want to lose the staging I had created.

So, with that I decided to work on the idea of a rollercoaster but instead, this time I focused on trying to use it as a metaphor rather than a literal thing. When doing that, I felt I had to have a look online and came across this picture.

Now when looking at this, I felt I had hit an epiphany as I always knew I wanted it to not only be autobiographical and authentic but also have a wider meaning. Therefore, as I continued working on it, I felt the need to look at the idea of the ups and downs of life. At first, I felt I wanted to talk about it in a generic manner but I then discussed about an incident when I was at school and was basically brought as an outcast when I was diagnosed with ADHD and Worster Draught Syndrome – a rare disorder in which the brain cells stop you from doing certain things. In this instance, it stopped me from speaking properly.

When I was discussing this with people, I felt that there was a sudden engagement as they felt very hooked on the idea and felt actually really interested in my experience. Therefore, I have decided to focus on this as I feel that there is something unique and that I would be able to combine this with a really good metaphor of the rollercoaster. Plus, it also means that I would be able to keep the staging as it was but just in a different manner. To give you an idea, here is a diagram of the old and new staging.

Old Staging

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Staging

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As part of the show, I also intend to set the outside of Studio 2 out as a queue line and I hope this will immerse the audience into the world of the rollercoaster.

As well, I have named it The Ride of My Life” as I want to make it something that is quite broad but also gives nothing away which I hope will work. Here is a little segment from my script.

The Script

Pre-set

The audience is stood outside by a podium which says “Welcome to “The Ride of My Life”. Please wait for your ride attendant who will escort you to the ride. The Performer walks and we hear the music “The Call to Adventure”

Me: Good afternoon everyone and I would like to welcome you to “The Ride Of My Life”. In a couple of moments, I will be seating you into your carriage but firstly, it is important to note that whilst the piece does contain true events that did occur, all of the characters mentioned have been fictionalised for safety regulations and for your own entertainment. When boarding the carriage, please ensure that all loose articles such as bags, coats and even notebooks are placed into these lockers. Now, I ask for those who are priority pass members to come forward so I can seat you in your carriage (The performer gestures to the sheet below). Please can these people come forward.

Once the priority pass members are in the studio, the performer turns to the audience.

Me: Ladies and gentlemen, please can you now form an orderly queue so you can be seated in the carriage.

The audience forms a queue and enters the studio. Once the sixteen seats are filled, the performer speaks.

Me: Ladies and gentlemen, the carriage is now filled. Please can you now move to the seating area one either side of the studio sat down on the floor?

The audience moves into the studio having heard the instructions from the performer.

Scene 1

The lights fade up. A whiteboard is seen at the side of the stage. The Performer walks to it.

Me: Ronan Keating once said that life is a rollercoaster. It has its ups and its downs and whatever it brings, we must face it. Scary, huh? You see its weird. All this trepidation. I mean, some people may disagree with me but that’s how I personally see. I mean my story in many ways was a rollercoaster. It never felt right. If anything, it felt like some sort of soap-opera. Just not with the death, affairs, elongated story lines. It was real. It was a rollercoaster that was painstakingly hard to go through. It all started in 1999 when I was a toddler.

I was a late one you see. I enjoyed being cosy in my mums tummy. But with that came my first drop. When I was three, my mum started to realise that I had some problems. I was always a larger than life character. Hence why I got told off last week for being too loud in the library (Pause). Woops. Anyway, back when I was three, I was brought to the doctors to see whether I was ok. My mum at the time was working part time at a job she hated and had a larger than life son who sometimes needed to be controlled. When she brought me one day, she found I had been diagnosed with two conditions. ADHD and Worcester Draught Syndrome.

Now some people may not know about what this is and the truth is she didn’t either. I didn’t know. But the truth was I was just a kid. Essentially, its where the muscles in mouth seize which causes you to stop speaking. Which would mean if I had it now then (As I speak then, I try to speak the next line with the syndrome) this is what I would sound like. It’s impossible to say anything and at this rate, I ought to be a new ventriloquist act. (Pause)

Throughout this period, I would struggle to get words right and even words like “mummy”, it would come out as “Bo-ee”. My mum found this amusing. Not in a horrible manner. Just as something that she found a little funny that I would say. But, as time went on, she knew something was wrong and I needed help. I was getting attachment issues. Don’t worry. I wasn’t becoming a Norman Bates type of character. She knew that something must be done. And so my ascent began.

The sound of a lifthill chain is heard. The performer draws this hill.

When I was six, she brought me to a primary school and got me sorted there in the hope that it would be the right school for me. It seemed nice. It had everything you wanted. Displays that were appealing, a range of nice and welcoming teachers and a friendly atmosphere. It made me feel like I would enjoy my time at school there. It seemed like I had hit the jackpot. Of all of the primary schools, it felt like Disneyland – the happiest place on Earth.

 

My intention now is to further my script and make it even longer in the hope of being able to make it exciting but also different. In my next post, I’ll discuss the influences that I wish to have and who I want to reference as my practitioners.

In todays session outside of study time, I decided to make the first step in staging some of the work that had been discussed and thought. Partly, this down to the fact that when creating a performance, it is ok to conceive ideas. But, in order for the performance to become successful, the ideas must be more than things that stick on a piece of paper. As a lecturer once said, “The time for thinking is over” and it is therefore time to start getting things on its feet (Dubois, 2018).

In beginning the work, I decided to rehearse this piece in Studio 2 due to the fact that after discussion of the idea with people, they felt it would work better. When considering the seating of it, I decided to go for a simple seating arrangement being eight rows in a four by four arrangement. However, this was down to more than a simple arrangement as I wanted to give a sense of the experience of being on the rollercoaster, The Smiler. Since the seating arrangement is a four by four carriage, I wanted to recreate this to give an idea of the scope of the ride.

However, in discussion with a peer, they suggested the possibility of maybe having another set of four rows in four by four. This was to indicate the empty “test carriage” that “had been sent around the 14-loop ride, but had failed” and the actual that had occurred (Reynolds, 2016).

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see in the pictures, I tried to stay faithful with this layout without making it feel too obvious as I wanted to explore how performing in the space may be seen as claustrophobic. Personally, I felt this was very uncomfortable as I felt very trapped with the performance space as it felt as if in the space, you felt very exposed as the audience were invading my personal space being the stage. Therefore, I decided to make sure that their space was invaded in which the audience would be asked to be seated in the back four rows. Thus, as you may notice in the picture to the left, there was very little space between the second carriage and the first on the front and back row of them as I wanted to recreate the feeling of the crash and as if they were sitting in a recreated version of the ride.

After getting the seating arrangement sorted, I decided to work on the final section which would discuss my experience of going on The Smiler at Alton Towers three years after the incident had occurred. Through this, I decided that the use of storytelling would be a key mode and paid attention similarly to the style of Tim Miller when considering the idea of pace by making it quick dialogue. The use of this would help the audience go on the journey and would therefore allow them to go on the journey as if my experience at the theme park was a rollercoaster.

When rehearsing it, I found it difficult as I wanted to ensure I got the details in concerning the day as well as the feeling of being on the ride. But, the main thing I was keen to explore when devising it was how to focus on the idea of the past and revisiting it and by the use of the physical obstruction, it allowed me to show this idea of how the past was not as far away as to some people. When devising it, Bleeding Edge Theatre (who were rehearsing next door in the other studio) kindly offered to come in and watch what I had created. As you will see in the footage, it is a little rough but I was glad that they had offered to become an audience in order to try out some of the ideas I had been testing.

(Daniel Fotheringham, 2018).

After performing it to the peers, the group had seemed impressed with what I had done and felt that whilst the performance would be limited to sixteen people, it was an effective staging. However, they commented that I could run the risk of coming across narcissistic about the event when it was my friend who had been involved in the incident and needed a bit more clarity. When discussing the other ideas I had in mind to combat this, they felt that this could work and I felt, like them, there had to be more of a “red thread” in combining The Smiler Incident and the experience I had going on the rollercoaster. Indeed, I feel there needs to be more of an idea in revisiting the past and how this may be not helpful and I also feel that there needs to be more of a voice from my friend (Leah Washington) who was involved in the incident and how her experience affected me.

However, when considering the use of the chairs, I was a bit concerned when performing that I would struggle to get seated even without audience members and I am considering, instead of four chairs representing the empty car, the use of tape marking the other one similar to what is used in a crime scene investigation. Partly, this was down to the fact that it was quite impractical. I also feel that the audience would want to sit anywhere and would therefore lose the impact of the piece. Indeed, when Bleeding Edge entered the room, I had to tell them where they must sit. However, whilst this was not a problem, I do think that the audience I perform to may not get the mantra and will therefore make the piece lose the impact.

Overall though, I think today was a success. I have an idea on where the performance is going and whilst there are some elements that need to be refined, I feel that this has helped me in thinking what could be improved the next time when I perform the piece. I feel now that in order for it to work, I am ready to have an audience to test out ideas to ensure that the performance is a success and I hope this will enlighten me on the experience that they have and how to improve their experience.

Works Cited:

Daniel Fotheringham (2018) Solo Performance Draft 1. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LaMrCNfIqE [accessed 27 March 2018].

Dubois, D. (2018) Pitching my solo performance idea and discussion of technical requirements [workshop]. Solo Performance DRA3043M-1718, University of Lincoln, 20 March.

Reynolds, L. (2016) Alton Towers Smiler crashed with ‘force of 90mph car accident’: Shocking details emerge. Express, 26 September. Available from https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/714454/Alton-Towers-Smiler-ride-crashed-with-force-of-90mph-car-smash [accessed 27 March 2018].