Samuel Beckett’s performance Not I, has had a definite influence on my performance ethos. As, I want to create a performance that has a certain stylised aspect within it, a performance that holds its image at the centre of its importance. Within Beckett’s performance, the stage is completely bare with only a black stage flat or curtain with a whole in it and the actors mouth centred in-between the hole.
Figure 1:(Beckett, 1973)
I firstly had the idea to stage my performance in the dark, with single streams of light hitting different and separate parts of my body. However, the visual aesthetic I imagined, didn’t quite connect visually. Thus, I decided to imagine myself surrounded by mirrors. These mirrors would be cut to many shapes and sizes and all connected together, to form a type of cavern around me. From the audiences point of view, they would be able to see the ‘actual me’ a reflection of myself from most angles, as well as themselves. This fragment of the piece is specifically important, as I want the audience too ponder on their own selves as I perform. The idea being that, we are all perceived differently by different people; thus why they are viewing a reflection of themselves, as well as different angles and positions of me.
I also came across this image of a performance by the scenographer Robert Wilson;
Figure 2: (Wilson, 2015)
I found this image particularly evocative, as there is a clearly defined structure, amongst the ambiguity of the scene/sequence; that is, the pathway. This notion of having pathways which all lead back to a centre point, is something I will have to think about, but something I am strongly considering. As, my performance may uses stories or memories from previous years in my life, and the pathways are a good segment to add, as they create the sense of a journey, the sense of a different place in the performance and allow me to return to my original start point, which highlights to the audience; “I am now back where I began, talking directly to you, and not telling a story.”
Work Cited
Figure 1: Beckett, S. (1973) Not I. accessed from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10146406/Samuel-Becketts-Not-I-to-be-performed-on-television.html
Figure 2: Wilson, R. (2015) Adam’s Passion. accessed from: http://accentus.com/productions/adams-passion-a-world-premiere-performance