After the lesson, I started to find an essence of where I wanted my work to go. I have been really inspired by Tim Crouch as his work pushed the boundaries of performer and audience, forcing us to examine this oddity of communication. He is playful but highly intellectual in the way he interacts and experiments with the audiences expectations of what a play is such as in An Oak tree. The audience are unable to predict what is happening as even the actor accompanying Tim Crouch onstage is in the dark as to what is about to occur. The moment the actor is told he/she is the parent of the girl killed in a car collision, the audience is transported to a much more sinister and uneasy atmosphere of unpredictability. For me, I feel that this doesn’t suit my strengths and to try and create a unique performance atmosphere would require far too much patience. The solo script I have been writing has attempted to have the performer seem as clueless to what the performance entails as the audience. Creating a sense that no one knows what is happening. I am also exploring how the actor is a vulnerable occupation of following rules dictated by others. I hope to explore the idea of an actor without integrity.

Near the end of the session, Jason stood up and told us about his idea of being a sinister character who attempts to control the audience through fear, foul language and threatening behaviour. The concept was interesting in theory but I felt it would be hard to realise fully in practice as there are too many conditions that come with an audience. The difficulty is that an audience prepares for whats to happen and the effect is diluted through a big audience. Also, an audience will not watch something they know is repulsive and if they did do it would be something of a challenge and a competition with the performer, like watching a scary film. I believe it would work on a one on one basis or if the audiences caused the performer to harm themselves.

During Jason’s talk I had an image in my head (one which I will later reveal with photos or a video), which sparked an array of ideas. In reflection, it is very close to Paul Currie’s performance style and involves physicality and clowning. Over the coming days I will explore clowning further and see the traits that may help me develop the images and scenario in my head.

Think sock puppets and a revolver…