I have come to understand that to create good theatre you need to be aware of the type of theatre interests and entertains you; therefore you must allow other theatre companies to inspire your work. Additionally, as a director, I knew I had a lot to learn, and therefore this journey has enabled me to formulate rehearsals, scenes and most importantly a performance with a message. Developing from our previous rehearsals about status’ we realised as a company we wanted to create a piece of theatre that would make the audience walk away from the stage with a message. I envisioned being; ‘how far does one person go to become the ‘perfect’ identity before destruction takes over?’ A discussion we had very early on was the amount of selfies we take before uploading just one to social media and how long it takes to edit the chosen photo. Many filters and editing later, the photo gets uploaded seeking likes and comments from our online ‘friends’ and ‘followers’ which is a very altered and unrealistic representation of the offline identity behind it.
One of the very first inspirations we loved was YouTube tutorials or ‘how to’ videos which help and assist individuals to do hair and make-up routines. One in particular was a make-up tutorial about how to contour the face. ‘Contouring creates shadows to the areas where you apply it to make your features appear smaller and more defined’ (Gudge, C, Username, 2015 p. 5)
Contouring has become more popular and through these makeup tutorials, and through the Kardashians who are idols to many young people. We chose this tutorial and used it out ourselves and began to notice the change in our faces. The contour and highlighting gave the illusion of a slimmer nose, defined cheekbones, and a smaller face. This experiment lead to the topic of the ‘perfect selfie’, we discussed that the makeup tutorials enhance and better an online identity, therefore ‘selfies’, editing, and angles were all elements we agreed need to be in Username to create the ‘perfect’ online identity.
As we collectively were the writers of Username it was our responsibility to make our message clear to anyone who was coming to watch our performance. It had to connect with all generations and the society we live in today. There were many ideas that we wanted to include in our show such as the ‘Kylie Jenner lip challenge’ this topic would have suited our performance, due to it being about how to plump the lips with a bottle or glass, which in some cases have destroyed people’s lips. The daily mail described it as ‘disastrous and painful for many who tried’ (Siebert, 2015)
However due to a social outrage we decided against including a physical representation of the lip challenge in our show because of the dangers and because that particular topic may have not been as recognised by an older generation. Therefore, instead we decided just to mention it within our first voice over as one of the newest craze; ‘from thigh gaps to plum lips, new trends become more extreme and dangerous’ (Gudge, C. 2015, p.1)
(Developing ‘contouring scene’)
Another inspiration was Jena Kingsley, a comedian who conducted a social experiment about social media. ‘Social networking is completely out of control these days. But do the things we do online make sense in real life?’ (Kingsley, J, 2015) Kingsley experiments with social media slang such as, checking in, liking and commenting, and uses the language into reality to see the public’s reaction.
This social media experiment shocked, humored and confused the locals, even though this language is used daily by many, it is used behind the protection of their online identity, it is used in reality. I was really inspired by this experiment and wanted to bring social media to life in Username by the controller (Stacey) addressing the actors by their social media names which would suite the online influences in our performance. For example, we are going to take names from Twitter such as, @chloegudge1, which will be read as ‘at chloe gudge one’. This will hopefully highlight the social media element to the audience but also show a comedic side.
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker was another influence because we liked how the lighting was separated in boxes. We also liked how the actors started with different movements at different times and joined in gradually wearing high heels which was also an element in the sequence we liked and wanted to develop. It was a risk as we were performing contorting movements and could have fallen, slipped and hurt ourselves but that was a risk we were willing to take for the sake of created the ‘perfect’ online identity.
Forced Entertainment was another big influence, one show in particular; 12am Awake and Looking down as we also wanted to have huge amounts of clothing on the rails positioned either side of the stage, with shoes and all make-up in a row.
As director, I envisioned various technology devices, social media, selfies, online identity fascination and destruction to be included in Username, which I have discussed with Rosie our set designer. In order to present the increasing narcissistic society we live in, we have decided to use; two large projector screens, one hand-held camera, two TV monitors, one mannequin and similarly to Forced Entertainment; two large clothing rails. This set decision represents how individuals in today’s society are becoming more obsessed with their appearances online.
Works Cited:
Achterland, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker 3 de (2010) [online video] Avaiable from 7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVd7RugO_Xk [Accessed 13th April 2015]
Chase, R., Gudge, C., Hartley, S. and Haynes, H. (2015) Username. Lincoln.
Forced Entertainment (2015) [online advertisment] Available from http://www.forcedentertainment.com/project/12am-awake-looking-down/ [Accessed 13th April 2015]
GlamBooth TV. (2014) Contouring & Highlighting- Kim Kardashian’s Makeup secret!. [online video] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dLSy75M46o [Accessed 13th April 2015].
Kingsley, J. (2015) Social Networking in Real Life -Social Experiment. [online video] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pyJlERCrJE [Accessed 13th April 2015].
Siebert, V. [online advertisment] Avaiable from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3093084/Love-ve-got-Teens-hit-controversial-Kylie-Jenner-Lip-Challenge-flaunting-natural-pouts-series-inspiring-selfies.html [Accessed 13th April 2015]