During the presentation week, one of us chose Tim Crouch to discuss as a solo artist. This is one artist who interested me for the main reasons that he includes his audience within his performances and all of his plays explore a form or tell a story. Although I don’t believe I had any inspiration from a particular artist, my piece is somewhat telling a personal story, relating to people universally. Crouch narrates his play, My Arm, through live performance and digital film. This method is very similar to my ideas. In another performance, An Oak Tree, Crouch uses a performer to help convey the message. This performer knows nothing of the piece in which he/she are about to perform in. The presence of another onstage, especially one that is unsure of the show, relaxes the audience as they feel as though they are in the same position and are in safe hands. I was not to be inviting anyone else on stage during my performance, so I have to assure that I can express what I need to, using only myself.
I have sworn that my piece is not influenced by any artist but the more I think about Crouch’s work, the more I find our performative decisions are very similar. Crouch performs using only minimal set so that the audience can focus on him and only him. Crouch (mostly) performs in a minimal costume also. Both of these decisions are made as he wants nothing to detract from his performance in the same way that I don’t. Although he wishes to remain professional and focused, he breaks the fourth wall barrier in many of his performances as he likes to include his audience, making them feel welcome and a part of his creation and imagination. I do not break the fourth wall within my piece but I do refer to the audience as ”you” so that they are automatically involved.