Solo performance has probably been the biggest challenge of university for the pure fact that coming up with ideas on your own is hard, much harder than I had imagined. At the beginning, I thought that I would just find a topic quickly then more or less have a basic idea sorted straight away. Obviously, that was not the case.
I believe that opting to choose a topic that I felt very passionate about and is about me personally was the best choice that I made. Choosing the gym as my starting point for any other ideas to follow meant that I was constantly engaging with the topic and trying out ideas when I was working out at the gym or at home. Many of my rehearsals happened at the gym as I felt that being in that environment would help me create a performance that is authentic and would actually have the essence of the gym present. However, after I injured my knee, I could no longer continue rehearsing my HIIT routines as they were straining my knee far too much. Finding myself back to square one so long in to the semester caused a lot of stress but thinking back, it was good stress that urged me to really get my head in to creating a performance that was actually more of a theatre show than what I had originally been rehearsing.
I wanted to take my audience on a journey so they could see an overview of my life so far through my participation in sport and fitness. I did not want to create a serious show at all nor was I aiming to be comedic; I just wanted my audience to leave feeling happy or feeling enthusiastic about a passion in their own life. I had hoped that parts of my performance would get a few laughs from the audience such as section 3 where I spoke about P.E. lessons in secondary school, something many of the audience members present probably would have been able to relate to as P.E. was never the most popular subject at my secondary school for anybody.
I felt like I maintained a clear voice, a good level of energy and enthusiasm throughout which helped communicate my passion for the gym when I got to section 6 of the performance. Before the final performance, I was worried that the audience may have seen section 6 as my attempt to be serious but failing at it, when delivering the dialogue about how the gym had changed me. However, I feel as though I committed myself fully to the performance of the dialogue and it came across as slightly comedic, which is what I had hoped would happen.
I do not think that I could have given any more towards my final performance on the day as I ended up being physically exhausted. However, I believe that if I had come up with the ideas for this performance earlier on in the semester, then I would have been able to perfect my physical movements, especially in the section where I play Tag Rugby. I would have liked to have been able to really study how rugby players move in order to portray better that I was participating in a game.
For the amount that I felt like I struggled with this process, I feel like I did achieve a performance to be proud of. It may not have been my best devised piece of work at university or the best solo performance but I have never had to create something entirely on my own before. So to do so and perform it with passion and enthusiasm is a big personal achievement for me. This module has made me realise just how much work, dedication and discipline in rehearsals you need in order to create a successful solo show.
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