Confidence in Me, Myself and I

STOP PRESS: The performances of Me, Myself and I have been postponed – keep an eye on the HOT event listings for a new date and venue.

Message from Nunah: 

Hello everyone,

It is with regret that we are informing our audience and supporters that our shows (10th,11th,12th of December) are postponed due to circumstances beyond our control.

We will be performing the shows at a different venue in the new year and will be in touch with more details nearer the date.

All tickets sold via Eventbrite have been refunded. If you bought a ticket from the Observer Building, please gain a refund from them.

Many apologies for the late notice, and thank you for your support.

Warm wishes and we hope to see you in the new year,
Nunah Theatre Company

************

Nunah Physical Theatre Company is well known to Hastings. They last appeared as part of Stade Saturdays with The Arrival, a performance based on the theme of human migration through one man’s confusion and isolation. This time, they are addressing the subject of confidence. HOT’s Lauris Morgan-Griffiths gathered herself together to talk to Artistic Director, Victoria Heath, about, Me, Myself and I.

So what is confidence and how does it impact on our everyday lives? Confidence can vary and wobble; you can be confident in one area of your life and unconfident in another. Some people have oodles of it, others give a good impersonation of it when, in reality, it is only skin deep. Confidence can be temporarily enhanced with the use of drugs and alcohol – and it can explode off the the scale into Narcissistic Personal Disorder (NPD).

Big topic. However, Heath and the company makes it a light, vibrant, colourful, energetic, musical, sound experience – fun as well as thought-provoking.

Because of the way Nunah work, they can expose inner thoughts. “Through music as well as running those voice in our heads, we can portray quite complex emotions and thoughts. The running commentary we play – monologue-ing our inner turmoil: ‘everybody is looking at me’, ‘I’m not as good I think I am.’”

That conversation continues as people present themselves in a particular way, while mannerisms can say something somewhat different. Nunah express all that through body language, facial expression, inner thoughts and music. “We wanted a dance-y feel, underground, club house.” (Music comes from Prodigy, Peter Allen and Gazelle Twin.)

So how does Heath start the process? Surprisingly, it is not with the chosen subject, but with music. For Me, Myself and I, it began when Heath heard the song Bugatti by Tiga.

 “A girl comes up to me and says what car do you drive. And I said Bugatti.”

It was from that point she began to research the idea of confidence ­

Me, Myself and I is a promenade performance. There are four performers, Vicky Heath, Alison Cooper, Julian Humphries and Yoon-Ji Kim. It is not a straight narrative; it takes the audience on a journey as they morph into different characters and levels of confidence; sometimes acting small, at other times with exaggerated ideas of self importance.

Me, Myself and I is definitely upbeat. Vicky believes serious ideas and emotions can be communicated strongly with humour and a lightness of touch. She was trained at the City University of New York and has worked as a director/actor throughout the States and internationally.

And what is the origin of the name, Nunah? Laughing, she explains “It came from the name my partner used to call our cat.” Well, names have to come from somewhere and a cat is as good as any. Energetic, independent, playful, resourceful, creative. Determined. Obstinate. Sounds apt to me.

Nunah Physical Theatre Company can be seen next year performing a community piece with 200 young children from local schools on the reopened Hastings pier. Hoorah.

http://hastingsonlinetimes.co.uk/arts-culture/performance/the-arrival-arrives

STOP PRESS: The performances of Me, Myself and I have been postponed – keep an eye on the HOT event listings for a new date and venue.

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