– The seats are laid out in a half circle.

– General wash of light as audience enter. White noise plays.

– Goes dark, then there’s a pinpoint light on a pair of shoes. Actor steps into the light and pinpoint expands to allow for the actor to be in the light with the shoes.

– Soft sound of people chatting and walking (hospital noise, beeping etc.)

These are my favourite shoes. These shoes are what brought me here, I suppose without them I’d still be at home, still be studying and with my family. But no, these shoes brought me here, and now I can’t leave. Not until I’m better they say, but I don’t see how I’m to get better when I’m not ill in the first place. I’m fine and no one here gets that. I don’t understand. I just want these shoes to take me home. To what I know and love. Home. These shoes brought me here and now I want them to take me home.

Everything’s just too clean here. It feels so clean, it feels dirty. But it’s not dirty. Not like it is at home. The mud trodden welcome mat, the dust on the top of the telly, the banana peel in the bin, the slight damp in the bathroom, the basket of clothes that needs washing… Home. I just want these shoes to take me home.

[Increased pace] People visit me here, and ask me if I’m okay? And I say ‘of course’ because I’m not even ill and I don’t understand why everyone treats me like a glass vase, teetering on the edge of a table, that might fall and smash any minute, breaking into a million tiny pieces… [slowing] I don’t understand. Why don’t they just treat me like I’m human? After all I’m not ill… I just want these shoes to take me home. I just want these shoes to take me home. I just want these shoes to take me home. I… Just… Want… These… Shoes… To… Take… Me… Home…

“Home is where the heart is” they say, well if that is true, and home is where the heart is, then why must they keep me here? My heart is not here, so how am I supposed to get better? It’s just cruel. Why would anyone keep anyone else away from where their heart is?  I’m not even ill! I don’t understand. I just want these shoes to take me home! I just want these shoes to take me home! I just want these shoes to take me home!

These are my favourite shoes.

[darkness]

So, this is what I wrote during our first writing exercise in our second lesson. It was a case of simply writing what ever came to us in the moment and not thinking too deeply into things.

Negatives: 1) it’s a rather cliché subject – it’s been done a lot and is anything but original. 2) it’s not got much content – it could do with more flesh on the paragraphs before the repetition at the end, because the paragraphs are so short it feels like the repetition is happening far too much. 3) In general the whole thing’s a bit too short – although I feel that I’ve closed it off and would struggle to make it longer without being too repetitive.

Positives: 1) Although I’ve wrote being cliché as a negative – it’s also a positive, as there’s a reason it’s cliché – because it’s simple and it works.  2) Repetition – although it’s perhaps used a little too much, repetition is good and can be very effective if used correctly. 3) Similarly to the work of David Cale, the topic isn’t from my own experience, but I have personalised it and made it sound autobiographical.

Ultimately, I don’t think I will be pursuing this monologue, I perhaps might take something from it, such as the topic of mental health, but that is all. As my first attempt of writing a monologue, it wasn’t awful, but it also wasn’t great. This will be the start of better work in the future.

 

Rhodessa Jones, a performer, a teacher and a director. The pieces that will be detailed in this blog are two of her solo performances.

 Big Butt Girls, Hard Headed Women

Rhodessa got the inspiration for Big Butt Girls, Hard Headed Women when she began teaching aerobics to women in the San Fransisco Jail in 1987.

Big Butt Girls, Hard Headed Women, first performed in 1989, consists of a series of monologues and dance-like segments based on lives of the women she met while teaching in prison. The show follows the structure of an aerobics class, where Jones would introduce herself , demonstrate an exercise and even do some ‘cheering’. “All you bit butt girls, it’s time to get a booty for your body! What’s the use of having a bit butt if you can’t express yourself?” (Jones, 1989) Jones interrupts her routine periodically to play one of the women in her class or to deliver an interior monologue as the instructor.

The characters that Jones plays in Big Butt Girls, Hard Headed Women (as previously mentioned) were based on the real women she met in prison – they’re described in the Los Angeles Times as: “sassy Regina Brown, who was murdered on her third release from jail in one year and to whom the program is dedicated; wise and weary Mama Pearl, who all too many times has seen what has happened, what is happening and what is going to happen to her fellow inmates; Lena, who once dreamed of being a Broadway dancer before she got hooked on drugs; and Doris, a frightened, thumb-sucking first-timer, not much older than the children she has left in her mother’s care, who made the critical mistake of falling in love with the wrong guy.” (Churnin, 1991)

 

 

Hot Flashes, Power Surges and Private Summers

 Hot Flashes, Power Surges and Private Summers was a performance trilogy based on Rhodessa’s life. The Hot Flashes section is based on her turning 50, and how womanhood is beyond 50, during this section of the performance Jones coaxed the audience into chanting “vagina, vagina, vagina!” to the theme of Bonanza.

 

I enjoyed learning about Rhodessa’s work, although it was hard to find info on her solo performances (hence the very small description of Hot Flashes, Power Surges and Private Summers). The things I can take from her performances for my own performance are; using a personal experience, as both of her pieces are based on things she’s experienced herself. Another thing could be playing different characters within the piece, just because it’s solo, it doesn’t mean the only character has to be me, I can play multiple – which is something I hadn’t considered before.

Works Cited

Churnin, N. (1991) STAGE REVIEW: ‘Girls’ Transcends Are to Heat Spirits: Theater: Rhodessa Jones examines forgotten lives of women in prison in powerful one-woman show. Los Angeles Times, 02 February. Available from http://articles.latimes.com/1991-02-02/entertainment/ca-119_1_rhodessa-jones [accessed 14 Feb 2016]

Jones, R. (1989) Big Butt Girls, Hard Headed Women.

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