One person show

:"For art exhibitions see solo show"In performing arts and entertainment, a one person show or solo show is frequently performed by, but not limited to, stand-up comedians. It is similar to stand-up comedy in that it usually involves a solitary performer on stage for about an hour, speaking directly to the audience, thereby acknowledging the absence of the fourth wall.

This term was used for a long time in reference to a large exhibition of artwork by one artist, but that use has fallen out of favor and most often the term has been replaced with, a solo show.

Background

It is worth clarifying the difference between a solo show and a one man show. A one man show when performed by a comic is often an hour of pure stand-up comedy. It can sometimes, but not always, have a theme upon which the comedian meditates.

However, a solo show can have a wider scope. In the preface of the book "Extreme Exposure", editor Jo Bonney uses the term "solo performance" to encompass those performers who do not necessarily have a comedic history. She suggests that "at the most basic level, despite their limitless backgrounds and performance styles, all solo performers are storytellers"(1). This is quite a fair assumption given that a number of solo shows have storyline or plot.

Bonney suggest that a "solo show expects and demands the active involvement of the people in the audience"(2). Whilst this is often the case, performers such as Eric Bogosian or Whoopi Goldberg create shows made up of rants and character vignettes which allow them to involve an imaginary character. So one could argue that by doing this they "re-build" the fourth wall. The exception, in Bogosian's case, is that the introductions to his shows are often similar to stand-up comedy in that they are directed to the audience.

Often, a performer will draw on personal stories from their own lives to share with an audience. For example, in Holly Hughes' solo piece "World without End" she attempts to make sense of her relationship with her mother who had died.

When creating a show a solo performer is not limited to writing and staging the piece by themselves. They can use directors, co-writers, designers and composers. An example of how Eric Bogosian builds a character can be found in the published version of his show "Wake Up And Smell the Coffee", by Theatre Communications Group, New York.

The backgrounds of many of the solo performers over the decades range from vaudeville, stand-up comedy, poetry, music, the visual arts, cabaret and dance.

History

We could probably assume that individuals have told stories in front of other members of their tribe or society for thousands of years. They would have orally passed down many of today's myths and legends in this manner. So it is a style of performance that has been with us for generations developing through theatrical people such as Greek Monologists, the strolling Minstrels of Medieval England and the French Troubadors.

By the 1960s the term performance art became popular and involved any number of performance acts or happenings, as they were known. Many performers, like Laurie Anderson, developed through these happenings and are still performing today.

Performers

Many American comedy stars, past and present, came to prominence through performing solo shows. These include Lily Tomlin, Andy Kaufman, Lord Buckley, Whoopi Goldberg, Jade Esteban Estrada, Spalding Gray, John Leguizamo, Bill Hicks, Chazz Palminteri, and Lenny Bruce. Hal Holbrook has been performing his solo show, "Mark Twain Tonight", which honors Twain, since 1954, and has performed it more than 2000 times. There are also many performers whose shows frequently use poetry or have a certain lyrical quality to them such as Dael Orlandersmith, or whose works comment on society and its discontents like Mike Daisey. Many involve true stories such as the show by Patrick Combs titled "Man 1, Bank 0", some comment on relationships such as Robert Dubac's "The Male Intellect", while other's celebrate pop culture such as Pat Hazel's "The Wonderbread Years".

North American Fringe festivals have provided platforms for many solo artists including T.J. Dawe, Charles Ross, Amy Salloway and Susan Jeremy.

There have also been many British comedians who have moved away from performing pure stand-up comedy in recent years. The shows that appear annually at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland can involve stories of pathos and the use of technological equipment such as projectors. Examples include Howard Read, who has performed with the animated character Little Howard which was projected with the aid of computers and Dave Gorman who now performs what he describes as "documentary comedy shows".

Future

The phenomenon Spoken Word which grew out of the American punk and underground music of the early 1980s(3) has the solo quality, as defined by Jo Bonney, to it. These performers are not strictly stand-up comedians as they don't always go for laughs, but will often include poetry, music, diary extracts and projection in their performances. Henry Rollins is a current example of this type of performer and though he often performs with the Rollins Band he also speaks solo texts and performs poetry. The line between the stand-up comedian and the spoken word, or solo performer, is becoming increasingly blurred as the art form continues to evolve.

Notes

1.& 2. - Jo Bonney, "Extreme Exposure: An Anthology Of Solo Performance Texts From The Twentieth Century", Theatre Communications Group, 2000, preface xiii.3 - Oliver Double, "Getting The Joke: The Inner Workings of Stand-up Comedy", 2005, p.53