A solo performance, sometimes referred to as a one-man show or one-woman 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 solo (one man) play in the history of Broadway.
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 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
It is assumed 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.
Edgar Allan Poe 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 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, 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, comedy, poetry, music, the visual arts, magic, cabaret, 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, Marga Gomez, Anna Deavere Smith, Bill Hicks, Brother Blue and Lenny Bruce.
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, who has performed as Mark Twain 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 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.