The racked seating | Entry 4

This week I was fortunate enough to visit Theatr y Werin – the stage in which ‘To Build a Home’ premiers this May! For a considerable amount of time, I always believed the hardest thing for a solo performer to do, was create challenging and original work, that not only informs an audience but keeps them captivated, intrigued and most of all entertained. However, when I visit the space, I quickly learnt the hardest thing was simply having an audience in the first place.

The theatre, located in Aberystwyth Arts Centre, is a 300-seater (huge, I know). However, the scariest thing is the way the seats are laid out. In a traditional theatre, the seats get higher and higher than the row before them gradually – not here. The seats are racked, noticeably. As a performer I'm always told to look at the auditorium at eye level, however here I am having to stare into the heavens simply to catch a glimpse of the audience – this should prove interesting while rehearsing.

However, whilst at the theatre, we got talking all things scenography – and I cannot wait to start getting my ideas into motion – but that’s for another post. But, for more information on the visit to the theatre space, feel free to visit our social media pages!

This week I didn’t partake in any rehearsals. Not because I didn’t want too but because life outside of the studio was calling and reminding me university is coming to an end.

Despite not being able to explore new ideas and theories practically this week, it didn’t stop me imagining the actions and words of the scene. Since the first wave of ideas entered my brain in October 2018 for a solo performance, one idea has outlasted them all – a multimedia aspect of performance. So, privately, alone in my room in the very early hours of the morning, I created a concept trailer – adding in the words, the video, the text etc and to my joy, it all simply fell in place and became exactly what I wanted. This aspect of the production would bring the right amount (I feel) of cinematic flavour to the theatre – an area I am keen to explore.

However, during this concept, I also discovered a new piece of music entitled ‘Ultraviolet’ which has helped create new ideas and practices in my mind – ill have to wait to get into the rehearsal studio this week to try them out.

Talking about rehearsals, I've now got an extra two hours a week to try out material, taking it from fours hours a week to six. This week also sees myself and my peers show glimpses of our work to one another.

This past week also saw ‘To Build a Home’ encounter its first hurdle. For the past month I've been free to create work, source materials and generally test things out – however, this week saw the pitch. The pitch event is when we produce a five-minute presentation, informing the examiners of our themes, aims and inspirations etc. Although marked on it, I don’t find out for a few weeks what they think – hopefully good!

But as I was speaking my idea, my mind was thinking another – maybe a directorial change is brewing?