So low solo
Unfortunately for me, I’ve seen a number of one-man shows. And I’ve directed several. It’s a lot harder than it looks — usually for the audience. My advice for actors considering writing and performing in a one-man show: Unless you’re the man known as Dame Edna, you probably shouldn’t try it. Read this piece from The Onion and know this: In my experience, everything they mock is all too true.
January 25th, 2011 at 9:48 am
My two most memorable one man show experiences were Jack Holmes playing RFK at the old Court Theater on LaCienega Bl.
http://www.allbusiness.com/services/amusement-recreation-services/4389171-1.html
There was also a GREAT performance by Tom Taylor as Woody Guthrie at Plays and Players on Delancey Street in Philadelphia…that took me all the way in. That was in the 1970s.
I have no reason to believe that these men didn’t have alcoholic parents. So this is
once again great reporting by The Onion.
January 25th, 2011 at 5:09 pm
That photo with the Onion article is priceless.
Like Joe, I have two favorite one person shows. A few years ago at Stockton College, accompanied by our good friend Tia, I saw John Astin (Yes, TV’s Gomez Addams) as Edgar Allen Poe. The script was neatly balanced between biography and readings from Poe’s work, with connections between the two being noted. He recited The Raven not in the slow tempo we’re used to, but as Poe did, with terror-driven speed.
More recently, at our local library here in Northfield, I saw Charles Kiernan portray Mark Twain. He looks like Twain but doesn’t try to mimic his voice. The piece was woven together from Twain’s autobiographical writings, and deftly paced. Kiernan is also involved in several storytelling organizations and “likes to tell the Old English and Grimm Fairy Tales, as well as scary stories during Halloween”.
January 25th, 2011 at 7:39 pm
I’ve never been on stage with fewer than 1 other actor. And I drink very little, although my parents were both alcoholics. (Or, should that read, “both my parents were alcoholics”, that’s better right?)
January 31st, 2011 at 10:48 am
I can see now that I should have been clearer. What I was bemoaning — and the Onion was mocking — was the confessional one-man show where each of us is asked to feel sorry for the performer. Because I generally have no sympathy for their plight, because most of their problems stem from their utter lack of self-awareness, I don’t feel entertained or moved, except to murder.