The work of Anna Deavere Smith has heavily influenced my final piece. With her one woman explorations of humanity in turmoil, her use of verbatim throughout many of her works has been of interest to me throughout university, particularly in this module. Anna Deavere Smith has devised and starred in many verbatim plays , especially in the 1990’s, focusing on a lot of the riots which took place in America throughout the decade. Her work of verbatim heavily inspired the structure of my performance, giving me inspiration on how to fit the testimonies that I wanted to use in with the narrative of my performance.
The two testimonies which I have chosen for my performance were found on an article written by The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/mar/06/homelessness-rough-sleepers-interviews-westminster-london
Wolfie, London:
I’m from Glasgow, but I’ve got no family left and I’ve been homeless for two years. I met these two guys in London and we stick together. You need friends when you’re on the street. You become more than friends; you become family. There’s a lot of hostility towards the homeless – people who call you scum, drunks who piss on you, people who try to set fire to your sleeping bag at night while you’re inside it.
Homelessness isn’t just a problem any more – it’s an epidemic. It’s a virus that’s spreading rapidly and soon it’s going to blow up. I’ve seen the lives of homeless people in Manchester, Newcastle, Hull, Birmingham, and the general feeling among those on the streets is that something has to be done. We’re not just going to lie down and die on the concrete any more – revolution’s on its way.
It isn’t just the Tories either, it’s the way the problem’s been handled for the last 50 or 60 years – there’s been a lot of “brush it under the carpet” sentiment, and it’s getting worse. They want to get rid of us and the police are everywhere. I sat down to roll a cigarette the other day and I was told I’d get a fine for vagrancy. That said, they’re not all like that. I’ve known police officers who will look for you if you’re not in your usual spot to make sure you’re OK. I suppose some roses grow from shit.
The hardest thing is staying off the drugs and booze. It’s so easy to succumb to those things when you’ve got nothing left to lose but your sleeping bag. Life is especially hard for the homeless in London because of the migrant problem. Immigrants think there’s a good life here and they descend in these huge numbers. We don’t beg, we don’t ask for change, that’s not how we live, so we get our food from food vans, but imagine the three of us having to fight our way through 90 big Polish guys just to get something to eat.
That’s why we stick together and watch each other’s backs. We spend our days wandering the city and we always have a laugh. When you’re walking around like this, you see more of the world than most people do. You can’t spend your life with your eyes closed and your ears shut. I’ve been educated by the world and from my perspective, there’s something terribly wrong with this country.
That’s why I want to get out. We’ve been to Dover to suss out the ferries, see how much it might cost, and we’ve had a whip-round among our friends around the country so we can nearly afford passports. I want to make it to Europe and just travel. Put one foot in front of the other until I die.
Mark, London:
I’ve been homeless for 18 years – in Middlesbrough, Edinburgh, Manchester – but this is the worst it’s ever been. Up north, it’s much easier to get accommodation, to get housing benefits; there are cold weather shelters and more support from churches. Down here, practically all the support you get is the odd outreach worker prodding you to check you’re alive. Why is the government closing down all the hostels? The main hostel in Covent Garden is closed; Dean Street, beside the NHS centre, that’s closed; the Parker Street hostel, which had 100 beds, has closed. That’s why there are more homeless people than ever. I’ve written letters to MPs, I’ve tried to talk to people about it.
I’ve got epilepsy from a head injury, after I was seriously beaten up in Newcastle, so I can’t work easily. I’m on disability benefits, but the red tape for accommodation is unbelievable; endless forms to fill out. I want to be put in a hostel in Tower Hamlets, where my dad lives, but they won’t listen. I’ve got a court case outstanding; one of the local churches had me locked up when my sister died and that makes things more complicated. I just hope I don’t end up in jail.
You get the odd few people on the street who you can trust, but things have changed over the years and generally I keep to myself. There are so many fights and arguments, more new faces every day, people waking you up in the night. Passersby mostly just want to get away from you. And with the police, it’s out and out harassment – they seem to want to attack you, like they want an excuse.
Everyone thinks living on the streets is easy. It’s not. Worst of all is the cold, at 4am, when it’s banging through you.
I chose these two testimonies out of all the ones included in the article as, when I was reading through them, I personally felt that these were the two most thought provoking testimonies. I felt an emotional connection to these two testimonies in particular which is why I chose them for my performance, as I felt that this connection would help me to portray said testimonies in an authentic and real way. Anna Deavere Smith has discussed in many interviews the importance of understanding and truly feeling the words of a verbatim script, in order to do the real people who provided the testimonies justice. Keeping this in mind, I feel as though these two testimonies are the ones which I will be able to perform in the most ethically sound way, because of these reasons.
Smith’s performances are often based around controversial subjects, as with most verbatim theatre. This guided me towards to decision of representing homelessness on stage, as I feel it is an issue that many people are aware of yet only a fraction of those people choose to fully acknowledge the extent of the issue. By representing the homeless epidemic to a theatre audience, along with the use of verbatim, I aim to create a solo performance which is thought provoking and interesting, bringing to light many issues and statistics that audience members may not previously be aware of.
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