Solo Shows: The Medium of the Moment. But is it Worth it?
WHAT IS A MEDIUM?
Click HERE to read more about story mediums.
What is a Solo Show?
Some stories are meant to be experienced in the room. Perhaps… around the campfire?
A Solo Show is maybe the closest modern audiences will ever get to feeling like cavemen, gathering around of an evening to hear an urgent tale of paramount importance.
It’s just one storyteller and a (hopefully) packed venue. Except the storyteller isn’t telling a story, they’re living it. The audience are flies on the wall, watching this individual relive moments of their life the way we all do when tucked in bed at night. Alone.
Solo Shows, in production terms, require all the care and attention of a fully fledged commercial theatre project. Basically, it’s going to rinse every last penny of the production budget.
In writing terms, the considerations are simultaneously expansive and restrictive. You can go anywhere and be anyone. Your show can be short, or it can be long. It can fill auditoriums or the room above a pub. But whatever your story, only one person can be on stage to tell it.
To get around this, many creative Solo Show makers use a library of different techniques:
Multi-role play
Voice over
Tech wizardry
SFX
Pretending there’s someone else there
Audience participation
The list goes on. Regardless of the techniques used, when the show ends, only one actor is on stage to take a bow.
Returning for a moment to production, Solo Shows have absolutely no production requirements as a form. It depends entirely on the story being told. Everyone has heard of (and is sick of hearing about) Fleabag. If you get yourself an NT at Home subscription to watch the show, you’ll see that the production value is… limited. It’s just one woman, a chair, and a speaker. In fact (and probably as a direct result of Fleabag) most Solo shows require almost nothing else. A few loose props, a small stage, and a powerful story are the defining features of a modern Solo Show.
Examples of Solo Shows
GOOD BOY - James Farley
Fleabag - Anonymous (does anybody know who wrote this? Impossible to tell)
Prima Facie - Suzie Miller
The Chemsex Monologues - Patrick Cash
Chewing Gum Dreams - Michaela Coel
Benefits of Writing a Solo Show
It’s a Recognisable Medium
Thanks to Fleabag, solo shows are something of a hot commodity right now. Years ago, audiences and producers would have looked down on the idea that you can pack a theatre with people that want to pay full admission to see one person. Those producers would then go on to promote several stand-up artists and white men with guitars, but that’s neither here nor there.
Relatively Few Production Considerations
Fleabag and Chewing Gum Dreams both consist of one actor, a spotlight, and a chair. The rest is all performance, costume, and audio. That means, push come to shove, a touring solo show needs an absolute minimum crew of two. That’s a lot saved on train tickets, fuel, and food!
On the flip side, Prima Facie has enormous production considerations. The set almost operates as a second character. Don’t be daunted by that, be excited! That means you’re free. Free to be Fleabag, free to be Prima Facie, and free to be anything in between.
Get it Off Your Chest
Let’s not beat around the bush here, although solo shows are a form of narrative fiction, they’re also bloody good therapy. Sometimes things happen in our lives and the only way through it is to give it structure. Narrative structure.
From a genre perspective, semi-autobiographical stories can use structure more loosely than other genres. Don’t forget it’ll also be really cathartic punching your high school bully three nights a week to a full auditorium! Then, once you have, you’ll do what all great writers do.
You’ll move on.
Experimental Staging
This was alluded to in the point about production considerations, but it deserves its own point here. Despite their proliferation in the modern theatre, solo shows are still in a period of wild experimentation.
Most staging considerations will be up to your director, but you can give them things to think about. Do you want the floorplan of a house laid out in masking tape on the stage? Maybe there’s a prop that simply must be in the show! Or perhaps the colour of the characters shoes are explicitly linked to something thematic.
Or maybe the whole thing takes place in a mansion and simply must be staged in the West End.
The Opportunity to Expand Your List of Talents
Solo shows are an inherently early-career art form for many writers. They’re also, shockingly, often not written by writers. Some of the most famous solo shows were written by actors. Well, there’s nothing stopping you from flipping the script (pun intended).
It may be terrifying to consider yourself performing the words you’ve laboured over for so long but give it a go! I promise, it’ll change the way you write forever!
Drawbacks of Writing a Solo Show
The Fleabag Effect: An Over-Saturated Market
Ah, Fleabag. What have you done?
You’ve inspired a generation to believe that they too can reach the stars with a spotlight, a chair, and wit. A whole generation. Not just a few people. Good god, they’re everywhere! It’s like a zombie apocalypse or a snowball rolling down a mountain. Gone are the days when producers and audiences look down their nose at solo shows for being less, and here are the days when they roll their eyes and think, “god another one?”
You May be Fully on Your Own – Production
You can take this one or leave it whether it’s a drawback or not. I’ve put it here because theatre is meant to be a communal, collaborative experience. While performances are, the process of making and rehearsing the show can be isolating. This is especially true if you don’t have a supportive production network around you that’ll work for free.
Because people want paying for the work they do. If you can’t offer pay to an actor, director, or tech, then you’re reliant on good will and artistic fervour. The plays that survive on that alone are very much the exception that prove the rule.
You Will be Fully on Your Own – Staging
Jumping off the previous point, you may not even find an actor. To see your show realised, you may have to put yourself on stage. If you’re not trained to do that, it can be debilitatingly scary.
Of course, it may change the trajectory of your life and lead to you winning an Oscar for acting, but the point is that without an actor you may have no choice but to take the plunge.
It can be Invasively Personal / Autobiographical
So many of these points are intrinsically linked, yet distinct. Solo shows can be therapeutic to write, diving into the deep recesses of your past and mining them for narrative truth. Of course, when the show is then performed, everyone wants to know which bits were real.
Usually, the sex bits.
Sex sells. People are nosey. It makes sense that a semi-autobiographical tale of sexual misconduct would appeal to audiences, but you need to seriously consider whether it appeals to the rest of your career.
Small Cast, Small Venue, Small Rewards
The only way to get a solo show seen is to take it on tour. The only way to take the show on tour is to pack it into a suitcase, get in your car, and add yourself to the growing list of artists clamouring for spaces in a dwindling fringe theatre scene.
It’s expensive, and it’s rare to sell out a fringe venue.
Luckily, the fringe venue is full of good, kind, generous people that will support you however they can. But don’t expect to qualify for a 5% mortgage off the back of your solo show.
Building a Shared Universe? Pair With These 4 Other Mediums
Diary
Micro Film (Under 15 Mins)
Pop-up Book (Adult)
Music Album
