Post scratch thoughts

I didn’t feel it went too well in that time. I ended up getting frustrated on stage. However as i move further from it I think it is interesting to not know what to do or have too much planning given the direction of my work. I tried singing and my work became interesting when I had ran out of songs that i could remember the lyrics to. I came out of the scratch feeling like i am perhaps relying too much on the props/make it harder element and they were almost becoming a crutch.

I feel like i should incorporate some voice over stuff to try out at some point. Similar to what i tried out during the ACP module.

It also made me think about how early or late the dental guard should come into play. Coming in too early can affect its effectiveness as I like to have a base performance for it to distort.

I feel like my work is leaning more and more into non literative phenomena rather than genre comedy.

A youtube video played at the end and i found that interesting, it broke me out of the performance and created a moment of 1st person and 3rd person dynamic for the piece. However this was not planned and I think would be hard to replicate as it was so in that specific moment.

I also played with the goggles in this scratch and I felt because they had a reflective surface they broke my connection with the audience which definitely impeded my comedy. The goggles I would play with at a later date over my glasses to keep the connection and the theme of the show.

I need to look at the wheel as I felt it wasn’t spinning well which i wasn’t happy about.

The scratch was described as a disaster curve which i think is a good way to look at the show. A constructed failure that failed more and as a result constructed more. It feels like it creates its own world during the show. Another piece of feedback i got was that the struggle reinforced the point. and that the audience feel the need to help, I think this is due to the connection i create when i am on stage.

The amount of control i have on stage was brought into question. Which i have in later performances tried to solve by changing the rules to the ‘make it harder’ to apply it to the previous selection on the wheel as this narrows my options and also plays with the base performance that they have seen only moments before.

I was recommended that i spend more time with things, which i think is good, however the comic brain in me wants to move on quicker. I think this is something definitely worth exploring. I have since added another unspoken rule to the show where I do something until I am bored of it.

Another piece of feedback i received was that there was a want for a little more clarity in terms of the audiences role in the show.

I asked if they felt they were seeing jokes and comic performance and the resounding response was there is lots of it in this show. As the fear can be that you push the boundaries so much it moves away from comedic performance and is that possible? and if it is what does it become?

There was talk of lots of little mini build ups of tension. This reminds me of the Steve Martin book born standing up. He mentioned that if he kept on building up the tension the audience could decide when it was released and I believe this plays with the power dynamics that I am also playing with. This also plays into the idea of tension that Jimmy Carr and Lucy Greaves talk about in The naked jape.

I was advised to look at pace.

I was told that the stand up bits feel unfamiliar in the set up and it doesn’t land as well as my intent is questioned.

For the staging I had the mic on the stand which is recognisable and a good starting point for the performance.  The placement of the box is a continual change for me. I want to put it behind me sometimes but in front of me others at the side of me. I don’t know what to do with it yet as I feel I have a 100 different stage set ups based on the various venues I perform in.

I have been told the box is intriguing and to put it at the front. the box is starting to get a bit tatty and I want to adjust the way it looks soon.

I was told in terms of risk that there is more to be done in terms of risk, as im not risking as much as i could. Some of the props do not have as much risk as at first glance.

This kind of feedback is very useful and helps inform me much more than the physical performance in front of a live crowd in terms of minutia details. I think that studio work with feedback could be very useful moving forward I just have to work out how to utilise the performance in that studio capacity properly.

DYP notes from the first week

I have begun to ask what are the boundaries of comedy performance. If you push them how far can you push them and once pushed can you push them again and if so can it be in the same direction or does it have to be a different one?

We have been asked to collate our own reading lists for this. I decided to look at a book that is about failing and failur informing artwork.

Jo said to look for small seeds in other’s work that can inform your own work. I think this is a very post modern approach to work. I remember once having a chat with Denise Vernon during my undergraduate about how you have to be careful about it not becoming a snake eating its own tail. And I am also reminded of Martin Bevis’ words in comedy a short introduction where he said that ideas come around and that comedy performance exist in and out of time. I’d like to think this takes the pressure off in terms of origniality in regards to my taking aspects of historical comedic styles.

Jo recommended to watch more theatre, which i do think would be beneficial, not only in terms of seeing more theings but also in terms of being able to syphon off seeds for my own work. I think previously spedning so much time within my own craft on the comedy circit I think did not allow for this syphoning as there is not much diversification on the comedy circuit due to it adopting the prinicpals of deadly theatre as peter brook puts it.

Jo said that ACP was about introducing work and DYP is more about working towards something. I have enjoyed the feeling out process of this module. Jo said that our work does not exist in a vacuum. Which I have always worried about with university projects. Even at undergraduate I was worried of this and I feel it fueled my desire to create in the ‘real world’ outside of the university. It may have caused me to shut down some potential for connections and seeds but i think ultimately at the time was the right thing fr me to continue creating things and being a practitioner in the years between under and post graduate.

We were encouraged to start enquiry based development work. I Have been interested in authentic performance driven by chance and luck. Since I added a spin wheel to my performances I have been sked many times if i rigged the wheel to give the numbers I wanted or if my performances were choreographed which I find interesting. The boundaries blur and intentions are made unclear which i think leads to greater comedic potential.

Jo said ‘What do you want to know that you can only findout through making?’ Which i imagine will become useful for the Practice as research module. Jo also said ‘What questions arise from your thoughts’ Which i have been trying to cover in this blog. Jo said to view myself as a pracitce based researcher which i think is a good way to approach many of the commisions in places such as The Lowry’s open artists and ArtsJobs.

Jo said to be collaborative and implemented a buddying system. nd we would be working towards a minifestival at the university. I have been treating most of the work i do as a dry run for the Edinburgh fringe so the idea of doing a festival is exciting for me.

Jo said to get it situated at external venues. I have already got it programmed for the Rhyl comedy festival, Glossop globe festival and the Edinburgh Fringe. I would also like to get it on at future events and festivals by making a tour pack. Jo asked us to think about marketing, which i have an extensive background of which should be easy for me to achieve.

Jo asked 3 questions for the project:

Where does it exist?

Where might it exist?

Where would you like for it to exist?

 

Historical clowning Heyoka

I was doing some research on clowning and discovered the Heyoka. A sacred clown from tribal North and South Americas. A contrarian. Their role is to do the opposite of those in the tribe. To highlight absurdities in life. They are free from the rules and roles of society. But also paradoxically by highlighting and breaking these boundaries it also helps to set the boundaries more specifically.

It got me thinking of my street work that I have been doing and how I can do more to go against what society is doing. I think it speaks to my anarchistic side but also my never quite fitting in side. Maybe I do this subconsciously or play this role subconsciously more than I realise and that something  akin to the Heyoka is actually quite a good fit for me.

I also thought about modern comedy and how there are often booms during oppressive times such as the popularity of Spitting image during the 1979 conservative government in the UK.

 

Clowning and class

I started looking into clowning and its history and found that it has alot of links with the working class. I think originally this was a punching down thing. aimed at the country bumpkin. but i think now it is not connected with class as much. if anything since the introduction of make up and its hiding of identity of the performer I dont think it is connected in 2019.

When i started doing the street clowning I was worried, maybe it was an ego thing, maybe it was a feeling of being exposed utside and the high chance of failure. but the idea of being recognised I think was of great concern for me. However I found that the make up and the jester hat I found that some people didnt even know who i was which definitely gave me confidence and in strange way freed me up.

I had read about the anarchy of clowns. But I first got to see it in my own performance when I was doing some silent clown work today and I was accosted by security guards. They cornered me and said over their radio ‘The reports are true; there is some sort of clown in the vicinity’. They asked me questions to which I mimed the answers and they said over their radio ‘We may need back up he doesn’t appear to be able to speak’…

I felt such power and that the situation was very ridiculous and feeding into what I was doing. The performance was upsetting and undermining the establishment at the same time. I couldnt help but think of John Wayne Gacy who said that ‘A clown can get away with anything’.

Perhaps clowning started off as a way to punch down at the working classes but has eventually been reclaimed to now being a tool for use in the form of jesters, clowning and satire.

Anarchy and rebellion is often rooted in the mobilisation of the workers.

Tate modern art gallery

On Monday I went to the Tate modern art gallery. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I do think that the context of the pieces definitely helped to understand them and I think that context can help any art piece, which sometimes gets forgotten. Ironically I am heading to a place where I find blurred intention interesting. However the places where I debut my work maybe takes care of that?

I was lucky enough to find that the Tate was exhibiting work that breaks down the relationship between artist and spectator. This was particularly relevant to my masters.Maybe it was a coincidence or happy accident. Or that this beak down in the relationship is such a big part of contemporary art that this is a commonality to be exhibited and examined in contemporary art.

Ironically many of the exhibitions were meant to be experienced in a way completely differently to the sanitised displays at the Tate. exhibits meant by the artists to be touched behind plexiglass. exhibits meant to be experienced bare foot and uneven cordoned off. It made me think of the dadaists and how art institutions can get in the way even though they are obviously big draws of funding and beacons for people to visit.

There was also a section about the importance of art. How it can change minds, opinions, begin political movements and support the oppressed. I definitely find that what I do is moving away from stand up and pure comic performance. More towards comic theatre and performance art, which is what Andy Kaufman classed himself as. The thing that I found initially interesting about him. I would like to think that we are heading towards a similar point creatively just have taken different routes to get there.