Month: April 2013

Posted in Influences

Finally, a realistic film about gay relationships

Posted on by Laurence Grunbaum

Weekend,directed by Andrew Haigh, was released to great acclaim in 2011. It is possibly one of the most realistic gay films I have ever seen as I could relate to both main characters in the film.

Neither are stereotypically gay, although personally I think stereotypes are dependent on country as most American gay films show muscle bound gay men, whilst British films show gay men in many different ways. But that might be a comment on the differences between British and American films overall.

The film is funny, moving and most importantly, realistic. The themes that the film tackles are current and  is far different from many other gay interest films.

Although I don’t like the drug use in the film, because I haven’t experienced recreational class A drug use within the gay community, I do think that it does reflect the problem with recreational drug use in the gay community.

However, the film is excellent and a refreshing change from most of the American imports.

Posted in Performance Development

Performance Styles

Posted on by Laurence Grunbaum

Over the past few months I have toyed with different ideas of performance style.

From creating a restaurant in the studio space, to becoming different characters talking about relationships, I have been through many ideas.

However, as I have explored my own feelings about love and relationships, I have decided to strip back the performance and make it as simple as possible.

I want the performance to be honest, reflective and moving, and the other performance styles wouldn’t have allowed me to accomplish that.

Making the performance more confessional will hopefully allow my audience to relate to what I am saying. Hopefully it will allow them to reflect on the performance afterwards and take something away from it.

Although my performance is autobiographical, I hope that it is not one dimensional, and isn’t just me stood there talking about myself for ten minutes. Instead I would like the performance to spark conversation and allow for the audience to reflect on what they have watched.

Posted in Practitioners and Performances

Caroline Horton’s ‘Mess’

Posted on by Laurence Grunbaum

Although it wasn’t a solo performance, Caroline Horton is primarily a solo performance artist. I saw Mess at Lincoln’s Drill Hall on the 17th of  April. I was not sure what to expect from the performance. My preconceived idea was that anorexia was something people explored in GCSE or A Level drama performances, and nothing ever changed.

But Horton’s performance was fresh and inspirational. Alongside Hannah Boyde and Seiriol Davies, Horton explores anorexia. Horton herself has been anorexic and had been hospitalised for 4 years. The performance was moving, funny, awkward and enthraling. They approached the subject with honesty and awareness, which added to the emotional aspects in the performance. Horton didn’t shy away from difficult subjects such as death or the reality of the illness. Horton played Josephine, a girl who was anorexic. Boyde played Boris, the male perspective in the play and Josephine’s best friend. Davies played music, and various characters.

There was points in the performance in which I felt that I wanted to intervene. Mainly because Boris who so oblivious to Josephine’s illness that it was uncomfortable to watch. But this highlighted the nature of the illness and how people don’t understand the control which the sufferer has over their eating habits.

The performance was one of the best pieces of theatre I have ever seen in such an intimate space. I learnt a lot about tackling difficult subjects from the performance and hope to use these in my performance.