
A solo performance, sometimes referred to as a one-man show, one-woman show, or one-person show, features a single person telling a story for an audience, typically for the purpose of entertainment. This type of performance comes in many varieties, including autobiographical creations, comedy acts, novel adaptations, vaudeville, poetry, music and dance.
In 1996, Rob Becker's ''
Defending the Caveman'' became the longest-running one-person play in the history of
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, American and British English spelling differences), many of the List of ...
.
Traits of solo performance
Solo performance is used to encompass the broad term of a single person performing for an audience. Some key traits of solo performance can include the lack of the
fourth wall
The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...
and audience participation or involvement. Solo performance does not need to be written, performed and produced by a single person—a solo performance production may use directors, writers, designers and composers to bring the piece to life on a stage. An example of this collaboration is
Eric Bogosian in the published version of his show ''Wake Up And Smell the Coffee'', by
Theatre Communications Group, New York City.
History
Individuals have told stories in front of other members of their tribe or society for thousands of years, and have
orally passed down many of today's
myths
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...
and
legend
A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...
s in this manner.
The style of performance has developed through generations via theatrical people such as
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
Monologists
In theatre, a monologue (also known as monolog in North American English) (in , from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character (arts), character, most often to expres ...
, the strolling
Minstrels of
Medieval England
England in the Middle Ages concerns the history of England during the Middle Ages, medieval period, from the end of the 5th century through to the start of the Early modern Britain, early modern period in 1485. When England emerged from the co ...
and the French
Troubadors.
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...
both lectured and recited poetry as a platform performer between 1843 and 1849; his performances stand as a paradigm of the solo performance hybrid simply called "the lecture-recital". The reading tours of
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
in Britain and America between 1858 and 1870 created a sensation. His American tour of 1867–68 was unparalleled until the arrival of the Beatles in the early 1960s.
Solo performance enjoyed an unprecedented artistic and commercial vogue in the United States during the second half of the nineteenth century (John S. Gentile Calls it the golden age of platform performance). Literary historians often associate the
Victorian period with the highest development of the dramatic monologue as a poetic form. There were several discussions about the importance and distinction between the literary monologue and the performance monologue during the nineteenth century, however, this discussions confirms a continuous interchange between literature and performance, which may at times appear competitive but is more often productive. By the time the United States entered the 20th century, the number and variety of professional solo performances presented throughout the country had grown large. This renaissance of solo performance also created ripples in the larger sense of American theatre; after this "boom" of the one man show had passed, the presentational style seeped into popular theatre productions such as ''Amadeus'', ''Equus'', and ''Evita'' among others, modeling a combination of representational theatricality and presentational, direct-address style.
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
Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker whose work encompasses performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting,Amirkhanian, Cha ...
, developed through these happenings and are still performing today.
Types and examples of solo performances
The backgrounds of solo performers over the decades range from
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
, comedy, poetry, music, the visual arts,
magic,
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
, theatre and dance.
Solo performers include Rob Becker,
Lily Tomlin,
Andy Kaufman, Rod Maxwell,
Lord Buckley,
Eric Bogosian,
Whoopi Goldberg,
Jade Esteban Estrada,
Eddie Izzard,
John Leguizamo
John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (, ; ; born July 22, 1960 or 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and film producer. He has appeared in more than 100 films, produced more than 20 films and documentaries, made more than 30 televisio ...
,
Marga Gomez,
Anna Deavere Smith,
Bill Hicks,
Brother Blue,
Lenny Bruce,
and
Mel Blanc.
Several performers have presented solo shows in tribute to famous personalities. The blueprint for this type of show may have been drafted by
Hal Holbrook
Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. (February 17, 1925 – January 23, 2021) was an American actor. He first received critical acclaim in 1954 for a one-man stage show that he developed called ''Mark Twain Tonight!'' while studying at Denison University. H ...
, who has performed as
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...
in his solo show, ''
Mark Twain Tonight'', more than 2,000 times since 1954. Examples since that time include
Julie Harris in the
Emily Dickinson
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...
biography, ''
The Belle of Amherst'';
Tovah Feldshuh as Golda Meir in ''
Golda's Balcony'';
Frank Gorshin as
George Burns in ''
Say Goodnight Gracie'' by
Rupert Holmes;
Ed Metzger in his solo show, performing since 1978, ''
Albert Einstein: The Practical Bohemian''; Metzger in another solo performance, ''
Hemingway: On the Edge'';
Henry Fonda as
Clarence Darrow in ''Darrow'',
Ronald Rand as
Harold Clurman in ''
Let It Be Art!'' since 2001 in 25 countries, and
Tom Dugan as
Simon Wiesenthal in ''Wiesenthal''.
A few actors adapted entire novels for the stage including
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor. With a career spanning over seven decades of Patrick Stewart on stage and screen, stage and screen, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Patrick Stewart, variou ...
who played all 43 parts in his version of ''
A Christmas Carol
''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...
'', which played three times on
Broadway and at
The Old Vic in London; actor
Gerald Charles Dickens played 26 characters in his performances from the same work; and
Jack Aranson starred in a solo, 13-character production of ''
Moby Dick
''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 Epic (genre), epic novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is centered on the sailor Ishmael (Moby-Dick), Ishmael's narrative of the maniacal quest of Captain Ahab, Ahab, captain of the whaler ...
''.
Solo performance may be personal, autobiographical creations. This ranges from the intensely confessional but comedic work of
Spalding Gray, the semi-autobiographical ''
A Bronx Tale
''A Bronx Tale'' is a 1993 American coming-of-age story, coming-of-age crime film, crime drama film directed by and starring Robert De Niro in his directorial debut and produced by Jane Rosenthal, adapted from Chazz Palminteri's A Bronx Tale (p ...
'' by
Chaz Palminteri, or
Holly Hughes' solo piece ''World without End,'' in which she attempts to make sense of her relationship with her mother, who had died. Another example of this is ''In The Body of the World,'' written and performed by
Eve Ensler in 2018.
Still other shows may rally around a central theme, such as pop culture in Pat Hazel's ''The Wonderbread Years'', relationships in Robert Dubac's ''The Male Intellect'', the history of the New York City transit system in
Mike Daisey's ''Invincible Summer'', or fighting the system in
Patrick Combs' ''Man 1, Bank 0''. these themes could also be centered around a certain topic such as a political or social issue.
Tim Miller explores the topic of gay culture and society surrounding the LGBTQ community in his production of ''My Queer Body''.
Karen Finley expressed her frustration with the standards women are held to and the issues surrounding them such as rape and abortion in her solo piece titled ''We Keep Our Victims Ready''.
Sometimes, solo shows are simply traditional plays written by playwrights for a cast of one. Examples: ''
Shirley Valentine'' by
Willy Russell, ''
I Am My Own Wife'' by
Doug Wright, ''
The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead'' by Robert Hewett and ''
Topless'' by
Miles Tredinnick. A performer of shows of this type is
Chris Harris, whose performances in the genre include ''Kemp's Jig'', ''That's The Way To Do It!'', ''
Ally Sloper's Half Holiday'', ''Beemaster'', Arris Music 'All'' and ''A Night at the Pantomime''.
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 Festival Fringe can involve stories of
pathos
Pathos appeals to the emotions and ideals of the audience and elicits feelings that already reside in them. ''Pathos'' is a term most often used in rhetoric (in which it is considered one of the three modes of persuasion, alongside ethos and ...
and the use of technological equipment such as
projector
A projector or image projector is an optical device that projects an image (or moving images) onto a surface, commonly a projection screen. Most projectors create an image by shining a light through a small transparent lens, but some newer type ...
s. Examples include
Howard Read
Howard Oliver Drinkwater Read is a British screenwriter, comedian, and animator best known for his work with his animated sidekick, Little Howard. His other creations include an angry manager with a conversational style and the worldview of Berna ...
, who has performed with the animated character
Little Howard which was projected with the aid of computers and
Dave Gorman, who has performed several shows described as "documentary comedy".
Solo performance in film
The first full-length talking film which showed only a single character was ''Sofi'', a 1968 film starring
Tom Troupe
Thomas Troupe (born July 15, 1928) is an American actor and writer.
Biography
Troupe was born in 1928 and grew up in North Kansas City, Missouri, and studied with Uta Hagen at the Herbert Berghof Studio in Manhattan during the early 1950s. ...
. The film was based on "
Diary of a Madman" by
Gogol.
The 1964 Hindi movie ''
Yaadein'' also featured only
Sunil Dutt, but
Nargis Dutt made a few appearances ''as a silhouette''. However, it still made it to the Guinness Book of World Records for the "fewest actors in a narrative film".
''
Secret Honor
''Secret Honor'' is a 1984 American historical drama film directed by Robert Altman, written by Donald Freed and Arnold M. Stone, and starring Philip Baker Hall. It is based on the play, and follows Richard Nixon as a fictional account attemptin ...
'', a 1984 film about Richard Nixon with
Philip Baker Hall as the disgraced President ruminating on his past.
In the 21st century the "solo performance" had a rejuvenation period with films like ''
Locke'', ''
All Is Lost'' and ''
Buried''. The characteristics were different from the previous one-character films that were made – mainly by location and style. Sofi and works like ''
Give 'em Hell, Harry!'', were still studio-filmed theater pieces. The 21st-century films were mostly shot on location and were much more stylized with their cinematic expression and camera usage. Most recently films by
Marcus Tell showed ongoing characteristics of one-character films.
R. Parthiban wrote, produced, directed, and was the only actor in the 2019 Tamil movie
Oththa Seruppu Size 7.
Further examples of solo performances
*Daniel Beaty: ''Emergency''
*Rob Becker: ''
Defending the Caveman''
*
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...
: ''
On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco''
*Rebecca Clarke: ''
Unspoken''
*
Jode Comer: ''
Prima Facie
''Prima facie'' (; ) is a Latin expression meaning "at first sight", or "based on first impression". The literal translation would be "at first face" or "at first appearance", from the feminine forms of ' ("first") and ' ("face"), both in the a ...
''
*
Derek DelGaudio: ''In & Of Itself''
*
Eve Ensler: ''In the Body of the World''
*
Hannah Gadsby: ''
Nannette''
*
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: ''
Diary of a Madman''
*
Carrie Fisher
Carrie Frances Fisher (October 21, 1956 – December 27, 2016) was an American actress and writer. She played Princess Leia in the Star Wars original trilogy, original ''Star Wars'' films (1977–1983) and reprised the role in'' Star Wars: The F ...
: ''
Wishful Drinking''
*
Hal Holbrook
Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. (February 17, 1925 – January 23, 2021) was an American actor. He first received critical acclaim in 1954 for a one-man stage show that he developed called ''Mark Twain Tonight!'' while studying at Denison University. H ...
: ''
Mark Twain Tonight''
*
John Leguizamo
John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (, ; ; born July 22, 1960 or 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and film producer. He has appeared in more than 100 films, produced more than 20 films and documentaries, made more than 30 televisio ...
: ''
Freak; Latin History for Morons''
*
Laura Linney: ''
My Name is Lucy Barton''
*
Chazz Palminteri:
''A Bronx Tale''
*
Ronald Rand: ''Let It Be Art!''
*
David Serero: ''Christmas for Jews; I, Napoleon''
*
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...
: ''
Erwartung''
*
Kristina Wong: ''
Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord''
See also
*
The Marsh
*
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been c ...
*
Monologue
In theatre, a monologue (also known as monolog in North American English) (in , from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts ...
*
Monodrama
*
Performance poetry
Performance poetry is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a Performance art, performance before an audience. It covers a variety of styles and genres.
History
The phenomenon of performance poetry, a kind of poetry specifically m ...
*
Spoken word
Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...
*
United Solo Theatre Festival
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solo performance
Vaudeville
Comedy theatre
Plays for one performer