Being asked to produce a short autobiographical monologue led me to my first idea of performance. Due to the spectrum of solo performance being very large, at first sight I had no idea where my solo piece would end up. Even today, I am still debating a few ideas which may even all combine into one.

I wasn’t sure at first what to discuss in my monologue. I am only 21 years old, and in those 21 years, I struggled to pick something really significant that people would want to hear about. Then it came to me. The only thing I remebered that I thought may surprise my audience. I told the story of when I was almost snatched by a bald eagle. I can assure you that this is a true story, though ‘snatched’ may be a slight exaggeration. I was six years old at the time and with my family at a local park called Fritton Lake. I live in Norfolk, and at the time, this park was one of our best nearby attractions. Fritton Lake had everything. A giant playground that had a zipwire, a bird of prey show, a giant lake which you could canoe on and a pitch and put golf course. My Dad is a greenkeeper, so anytime we came across a golf course, we were always made to play a game. At six years old, I wasn’t too interested. So intstead, I decided that I would use my golf club to write my name in the bunker. So, there I was, minding my own business, making my name look really pretty in the sand when suddenly, my Dad comes running over to get me. I assumed he was going to tell me off because a) I wasn’t joining in, and b) he spends many of his working day raking bunkers because people like me decide to write silly words in them. However, he simply asked if I was okay, to which I replied, ‘Yes Daddy, I’m just playing’. He then said ‘Okay darling, just look behind you for a second’. And there it was. A giant bald eagle, literally a metre or two away from me. I was a small six year old and the bird  It is safe to say that we didn’t finish the round of golf, and it put me off going back there for life.

The elements of this story I feel I could focus on in my performance is the size of the balf eagle in comparison with myself. I could then use this as a metaphor for fear, excitement and adrenaline and incorporate elements of these feelings into the story. I am unsure yet whether this is the path I will go down in terms of my final performance however the use of it for experimentation has been very useful.