It's New Year's Eve
It's New Year's Eve is a character sketch that took place at a New Year's Eve party in December 2019.
In the sketch, a woman turns up to the party ready to have fun but something stops her in her tracks - she is not feeling in the mood just yet. She decides to use various objects in the living room to cheer herself up in time for the party. She plays with eclairs; she wraps herself in lights; she plays the bop it. Throughout her entry to the party there are cuts between a pre-recorded voice-over and live script, leaving gaps in which she speaks.
It's New Years Eve, December 2019
11 minutes, 11 seconds
Performance not for camera, House Party, Bexley, London, UK.
Performer: Rachel Lonsdale
Voiceover: Rachel Lonsdale
Video: Katie Grenville
It's New Years Eve, March 2020
12 minutes, 14 seconds
Performance for camera, Copeland Gallery, Unit 9I, Copeland Park, 133, Copeland Rd, Peckham, London
Performers: Rachel Lonsdale, Kyran Gilbert
Voiceover: Rachel Lonsdale
Images: Kyran Gilbert
Bexley, December 31, 22:44.
Peckham, March 6, 19:36.
Peckham, March 6, 19:48.
Peckham, March 6, 19:27.
Image : Zoë Mendelson
image: Yulin Huang
The performance you are about to see is a re-enactment. It is one that was designed and scripted for December 31st 2019. The purpose of the re-enactment is to exist as a log of the performance and a record of my time as this character.
The performance is one that took place in a living room at a house party in Bexley. As such, when the woman sits in the chair, you must picture her sitting in front of a crowd of thirty people, almost all of whom are in their twenties, most of them fine art or music students if this allows for a better image.
The Argos bag mentioned in the script has been replaced in this version with a Debenhams Christmas bag to allow for similar comedic effect.
When the woman walks up to the painting on her right, you must picture her walking up to a window. The window in this case was made up of two patio doors that look out onto the evening. It was not a cold evening, but one that was just dark. It arouses comfort in the way it is just dark. When the woman performs, you must imagine her movements being watched closesly by each person in the audience.
All this is by way of general suggestion.
