Inspiration - Stephanie Comilang

Stephanie Comilang is an artist who currently tours with musician Owen Pallett (who often performs under the name Final Fantasy). As Pallett performs his music and songs she adds further layers to the performance by using an old OHP projector to project wonderful images onto a screen. These are often animated by hand, although simply, and she interacts with them, for example using her fingers to 'play' coloured keys, or by using a pair of scissors to cut shapes out from a projection.

This simple but effective 'live art' is quietly beautiful.

Although not a direct inspiration, shortly after seeing this performance in Bristol I had the idea of cutting shapes live on stage from newspaper to create the 'objects' I had previously thought of as props. I think I was obviously influenced by Comilang's work.

Experimenting with this idea, I found that the time it took to cut detailed shapes interrupted the flow of the performance, and so I settled on quickly cutting rough shapes to symbolise the objects - a pair of shoes, an apple. I also roll a piece up into a 'flower'. I wanted to make these shapes live on stage rather than just pulling the cut-outs from my bag as I believe it creates a sense of Moira building a world in her imagination but also in the reality she has at hand - an old newspaper in her suitcase. I used previous choreography to create this section, using simple but flowing movements.

I wanted the newspaper to look 'old' and from a different time to suit the general aesthetics of my piece, and so chose the Financial Times for its colouring. When I select sheets of the paper for my performance I will be careful to select those without colour or pictures.

I also chose newspaper over normal or coloured paper as I wanted to show that Moira in some way at some point had contact with the outside/wider world than the one created for the audience.

Still to work on:

• Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse - this piece needs to be performed with confidence as to immerse myself in Moira's character and behave as she would. There are elements of the unknown in this piece (for example the newspaper cutting) and so I need to be well rehearsed and sure that I will react appropriately to any challenges in the performance.
  
• Confirm costume, lights and sound.