Chester Le Street

The inscription on the inside of a case that I bought has the previous owners name and address. The name wasn’t something that I was particularly interested in but the road name could be a great street performers name.

K.A.CHADMAN

2 THE PARADE

CHESTER-LE-STREET

It’s got a nice sound to it. Chester Le Street. What do you think? I’ve used this name as a street performer in the past. It was slighlty odd someone calling me Chester but here are some reflections from it.

I felt like it gave me the opportunity to be someone else. I don’t want a life transplant. I’m very happy with who I am but to play a character on the street is a whole lot of fun.

Kind of like putting on a fancy dress outfit. You seem to become that character for a night. I’ve seen people who are not actors nor extroverts become stars in their own skin just because they’re wearing a costume for an evening.

Having a catchy name is memorable for an audience. In a street context where someone was not expecting to meet you having a memorable name is a good starting point. You need as much of their attention as possible and an exotic name is one way to get it.

The only thing I’m unsure about is that it feels like a lie. That isn’t my name. But if it’s true that the worlds a stage then you can be whoever the heck you want to be.

Written by Kristien Harris