Checking out the talent

I didn’t have the best idea about what a solo performance was. In my mind I had a scale that seemed to have Stand-up comedy  on one side and Marina O’bramovich’s painful and experimental performance art on the other, I was rather unaware of the in-between performances.
We were told each week we would be set a presentation to do on a solo performer, Marina was there in the list who I knew rather a lot about already. I was given Adrian Howells to research and this was another practitioner that I had previously studied a previous module titled ‘Contemporary and Experimental performance’ So I was aware of these two artists and their work. However, I was unware of every other practitioner given out to the members of my group and was looking forward to seeing what kind of work they produced, hoping it would give me ideas and inspiration for my own piece.
The saddest thing I found out about Adrian through research is that he made the decision to take his own life, something that struck me as tragic because his one on one solo pieces focused entirely on the care and nurture of others and making them feel unique and special in that one moment, it makes you wonder if he was reaching out for someone to do that for him. Adrian claimed his foot washing for the sole related to Jesus washing the feet of his disciples to cleanse them, however with the revelation that came along with his suicide you wonder if he just wanted an excuse and reason to touch and be close to someone and feel like the healer when he strongly wished to be healed himself.
I am beginning to realise that Solo performances are such a personal thing to engage with.
When Adrian did his show in the salon where he speaks freely and says, when he looks in the mirror dressed as a woman he sees his mother. . at the time of viewing, this made me laugh because of the typical idea that all women turn into their mother, but looking back later all I could think of was . . he’s left his mother behind.