The
Secret Diary Of A Teenage Queer.
On
7th February I attended the matinee performance of 'The
Secret Diary Of A Teenage Queer'. It was one of only two showings
performed by the Art With A Heart company at Contact Theatre,
Manchester. Performed in a small studio theatre in front of an
audience of approximately 40 people the three actors were almost
close enough to touch. Although at first I thought that the play
would be boring and uncaptivating I found it to be enthralling
throughout.
At
the start of the performance the house lights went down and there was
around a minute of silence before two characters stormed onto the
stage, yelling at each other. This immediately grabbed the attention
of the audience. As she pretended to read out her diary entries our
eponymous heroine looked into the audience, breaking the fourth wall,
an acting technique developed by Brecht which forms a bond between
character and audience.
The
props where kept to a minimum. There was a table with three mugs, a
tatty settee, a large black bag and a few cardboard boxes containing
the main character's childhood belongings including her teenage
diaries. The actors used on stage costume changes to represent going
backwards or forwards in time from the present day to the main
character's teenage years. I did not think that with such basic and
simple set and props the performance would be good, but I was wrong.
All
the characters were portrayed as having selfish attitudes, being
completely self absorbed and unable to see the points of view of the
others. The actors used suspense throughout the performance which
created an atmosphere of tension. There were times when they talked
over each other, overlapping their dialogues and creating a sense of
realism. It was evident that occasionally the actors had forgotten
their lines creating a pause, but this came across as natural, as it
does in real life.
Throughout
the performance there were moments that made the audience cry with
laughter, immediately followed by an extremely serious and poignant
moment that would have us crying with emotion. We all experienced a
roller coaster of emotions in a matter of seconds. The way that the
play was performed the audience would feel one very strong emotion
and would then be feeling the opposite emotion only seconds later.
There was no apparent technique used to achieve this effect other
than the fact that with only two actors ever on stage at any time
they were completely focused on each other and their timing was
perfect.
My
personal opinion of 'The Secret Diary Of A Teenage Queer' is that
although it is about the struggles of being gay and a teenager anyone
who has been a teenager can relate to the subject whether they are
gay or straight. Each of the three characters had very strong and
unchanging attitudes towards homosexuality. The main character was
confused and tried to conform to society's idea of 'normal'. Her
father accepted her being a lesbian but did not accept that she and
her civil partner wanted to have a child together. Her best friend at
school was convinced that she would grow out of her gayness and
become like her. The acting was outstanding and although there were
only three characters and very basic props the actors showed that a
big budget or large cast is not necessary in order to make a
performance effective.
Before
watching this play I was reluctant to sing with confidence in front
of an audience but after seeing the energy of the actors as they
sang, danced and made fools of themselves on stage I am now aware
that I can not afford to be self conscious if I want to become an
actor and that an actor needs to learn to laugh at themselves. In
addition I learnt from this performance that if an actor forgets a
line they can easily cover up with an ad lib. The use of overlapping
of speech over the top of another character's conversation creates a
realistic effect and I thank the cast of 'The Secret Diary Of A
Teenage Queer' for helping me to get over my shyness and fear in this
area.
