Tuesday 31 July 2007
Maker’s Diary: Confirmation
Right, Christian has now officially confirmed that it is all booked and in place. I now need to contact David Buss directly regarding tech requirements etc. I must remember to check whether I need a duty manager or not; we will see.
Monday 30 July 2007
Maker’s Diary: Fixed
Debbie can only do Oct 22nd (which would be the Arts Centre option), so I have fixed this date now with Christian. I am really excited now that I have booked a date and venue; I can start the scary process of recruiting performers again. I suspect that having more contact with students through teaching next semester will improve my chances of getting a full cast this time round. So we have the Arts Centre on Mon 22nd Oct all day…Yey!!! I am pleased that I have things moving in the right direction before I head off to Edinburgh.
Thursday 26 July 2007
Makers Diary: Getting the Ball Rolling
I have e-mailed Sharon Armstrong to ask her about possibilities of having another performance on campus this year. It is just a case of waiting for her response but it is good to get the ball rolling now. Debbie definitely wants to be involved still, which is great.
Sunday 15 July 2007
Reflective Practitioner: Siren Song Re-Visited
I have spent the last week or so, looking back over the previous experiments and doing some reading. I wanted to share my initial re-development ideas with you, as well as some of the reading.
Brainstorm
-an endless part with games…a structure that keeps repeating itself.
-Her part? Her wedding reception? Her funeral?
-childhood games that we are familiar with
-Party hats, food and drink-a social occasion.
Some Reading and Reflection
Shallow Play
I think that Turner’s notion of shallow play is going to be a key concept tthat needs to inform the dramaturgy of the durational performance. ‘Shallow Play’, is entered into willingly and self-consciously, its relationship with leisure and entertainment allow the possibility for contemplation and the conditions for greater risks to be taken because of the seemingly consequence free position. ‘Shallow play’, presents situations outside of received or expected behaviours, often cultural or societal rules are suspended in the space, time and duration of the play situation. This suspension of cultural and societal norms generates the possibility for new insights and understandings to be forged but without serious consequence in life praxis for the participants. ‘Shallow Play’ situations give permission for its participants to imagine and create alternatives and possibilities outside of the accepted cultural and societal norms. Games, rules and tasks within the context of both of the final performance experiments present such an opportunity for the audience to engage in ‘shallow play’.
Performative Inspiration.
Some of the practitioners associated with the neo-avant-garde performance of the 1960’s began to develop strategies that evoked shallow play but often for the performers rather than the audience; however, I think that those practices are well worth considering in light of developing a participative dramaturgy.
The Living Theatre
The application of acts as a performative strategy means that the company employed a non-acting approach to performance presence; they undertook an activity until it was exhausted. This performative undertaking of acts, avoids the possibility of replication and imitation; each performance is governed by a map of activity or task-based set of instructions that are carried out for ‘real’ each time it is mounted. The acts are committed not represented, imitated or presented under any pretence. As Schechner and Beck both consider:
SCHECHNER: The other part of the relentlessness of your work is how you follow the logic of an action to the end, wherever the end may be and however long it may take. In other words, not to make aesthetic decisions. BECK: Real time is what we're concerned with. Really experiencing it. You make the authentic decision. You meditate as long as you feel capable of meditating.
SCHECHNER: What is beautiful about Antigone is that it had the feeling of being truly yours. I could see somebody else doing Frankenstein, given the scenario. But Antigone no longer seemed to be a play; it was already a ritual, an experience, an event or something other than a play, if "play" is understood as an aesthetic situation. This was a real situation, Antigone, a situation in which everyone was committed. In Antigone you were showing yourselves in a profound and good way, while in Frank-enstein you were just doing something. Maybe I'm confusing the words.
BECK: What you're saying is accurate.
(Malina, Beck et al. 1969:38)
This approach to performance privileges experience and has the potential, to create a context in which new primary experiences can be made.
Fluxus and Happenings
Fluxus was not oppositional in the sense of Dada but was an opting out from art and its discourse:
but if we bypass “art” and take nature as a model or point of departure, we may be able to devise a different kind of art by first putting together a molecule out of the sensory stuff of ordinary life.
(Hendricks 2003:5)
It refused to participate within the institutions and cultural practices that have traditionally been recognised by art and instead initiated direct intervention within culture itself, unmediated by art.
I was really taken with a particular example of Fluxus practice that I read about, which I wanted to share with you.
The mode of fluxkits/fluxboxes became a dominant feature in fluxus practice and has survived due to their object based nature better than some of the more ephemeral fluxus interventions such as the food events. Two examples of fluxkit/fulxboxes that Higgins draws attention to as being typical of the form are Orifice Box and Finger box. Orifice box, by Larry Miller, consists of a plastic box made up of little compartments, each one contains a different object; a variety of plugs, statuettes and even a condom-all of which are contextualised by the suggestion implicit in the title of the box. When engaging with the box, the audience can touch each item and consider its possibilities, they have to directly engage with the objects and in this way the objects are transformed into being performative; they do not function until they become actioned by the audiences interaction with them. The interaction does not have to be the act of insertion but simply by handling and considering the items within this context, they open up possible new primary experiences.
Kaprow’s Happenings can be understood as planned or spontaneous acts; acts that unfold within the fabric of life praxis and the every day rather than in designated art spaces or venues. Kaprow developed happenings into an open ended form, rejecting the precise theatrical scripting of his early work, so that they had no literary dimension and no formal dialectical structure. Kaprow has remained insistent that Happenings should not have a direct point or message, the audience are not addressed and ‘nothing is won, told or provoked’. Despite the clearly performative nature of Happenings, Kaprow stripped the form bare of many of the characteristics that could have designated them as theatre but through the employment of the everyday utilised a particular theatricality. In the most striking and successful Happenings it is impossible to distinguish between the traditional boundaries and distinctions, particularly when the unfold within existing habitats, landscapes and environments that already exist as part of day to day experience, as they do in Calling:
In the city, people stand at street corners and wait. For each of them: A car pulls up, someone calls out a name, the person gets in, they drive off. During the trip, the person is wrapped in aluminum foil. The car is parked at a meter somewhere, is left there, locked; the silver person sitting motionless in the back seat.
Someone unlocks the car, drives off. The foil is removed from the per-son; he or she is wrapped in cloth or tied into a laundry bag. The car stops, the person is dumped at a public garage and the car goes away.
At the garage, a waiting auto starts up, the person is picked up from the concrete pavement, is hauled into the car, is taken to the information booth at Grand Central Station. The person is propped up against it and left.
The person calls out names, and hears the others brought there also call. They call out for some time. Then they work loose from their wrappings and leave the train station.
They telephone certain numbers. The phone rings and rings. Finally, it is answered, a name is asked for, and immediately the other end clicks off.
In the woods, the persons call out names and hear hidden answers.
Here and there, they come upon people dangling upside down from ropes. They rip the people's clothes off and go away.
The naked figures call to each other in the woods for a long time until they are tired. Silence.
(Kaprow 1965:203-204)
The Happenings themselves become a part of the landscape and might be understood to participate in the construction and experience of those environments themselves. In Calling, we can see that there is no delineation between performers and audience and no contingency for dealing with passersby; the instructions produce conditions which unfold in real time, real places and with real people. There is no pretence and no staging, just acts and activities carried out.
I also forgot to mention that I have been accepted to write a book review for an online journal Platform. I found out on the day of the Camden performance and so it just kind of got forgot amid all the other excitement. I will not be able to share that with you though until it has been published.
Brainstorm
-an endless part with games…a structure that keeps repeating itself.
-Her part? Her wedding reception? Her funeral?
-childhood games that we are familiar with
-Party hats, food and drink-a social occasion.
Some Reading and Reflection
Shallow Play
I think that Turner’s notion of shallow play is going to be a key concept tthat needs to inform the dramaturgy of the durational performance. ‘Shallow Play’, is entered into willingly and self-consciously, its relationship with leisure and entertainment allow the possibility for contemplation and the conditions for greater risks to be taken because of the seemingly consequence free position. ‘Shallow play’, presents situations outside of received or expected behaviours, often cultural or societal rules are suspended in the space, time and duration of the play situation. This suspension of cultural and societal norms generates the possibility for new insights and understandings to be forged but without serious consequence in life praxis for the participants. ‘Shallow Play’ situations give permission for its participants to imagine and create alternatives and possibilities outside of the accepted cultural and societal norms. Games, rules and tasks within the context of both of the final performance experiments present such an opportunity for the audience to engage in ‘shallow play’.
Performative Inspiration.
Some of the practitioners associated with the neo-avant-garde performance of the 1960’s began to develop strategies that evoked shallow play but often for the performers rather than the audience; however, I think that those practices are well worth considering in light of developing a participative dramaturgy.
The Living Theatre
The application of acts as a performative strategy means that the company employed a non-acting approach to performance presence; they undertook an activity until it was exhausted. This performative undertaking of acts, avoids the possibility of replication and imitation; each performance is governed by a map of activity or task-based set of instructions that are carried out for ‘real’ each time it is mounted. The acts are committed not represented, imitated or presented under any pretence. As Schechner and Beck both consider:
SCHECHNER: The other part of the relentlessness of your work is how you follow the logic of an action to the end, wherever the end may be and however long it may take. In other words, not to make aesthetic decisions. BECK: Real time is what we're concerned with. Really experiencing it. You make the authentic decision. You meditate as long as you feel capable of meditating.
SCHECHNER: What is beautiful about Antigone is that it had the feeling of being truly yours. I could see somebody else doing Frankenstein, given the scenario. But Antigone no longer seemed to be a play; it was already a ritual, an experience, an event or something other than a play, if "play" is understood as an aesthetic situation. This was a real situation, Antigone, a situation in which everyone was committed. In Antigone you were showing yourselves in a profound and good way, while in Frank-enstein you were just doing something. Maybe I'm confusing the words.
BECK: What you're saying is accurate.
(Malina, Beck et al. 1969:38)
This approach to performance privileges experience and has the potential, to create a context in which new primary experiences can be made.
Fluxus and Happenings
Fluxus was not oppositional in the sense of Dada but was an opting out from art and its discourse:
but if we bypass “art” and take nature as a model or point of departure, we may be able to devise a different kind of art by first putting together a molecule out of the sensory stuff of ordinary life.
(Hendricks 2003:5)
It refused to participate within the institutions and cultural practices that have traditionally been recognised by art and instead initiated direct intervention within culture itself, unmediated by art.
I was really taken with a particular example of Fluxus practice that I read about, which I wanted to share with you.
The mode of fluxkits/fluxboxes became a dominant feature in fluxus practice and has survived due to their object based nature better than some of the more ephemeral fluxus interventions such as the food events. Two examples of fluxkit/fulxboxes that Higgins draws attention to as being typical of the form are Orifice Box and Finger box. Orifice box, by Larry Miller, consists of a plastic box made up of little compartments, each one contains a different object; a variety of plugs, statuettes and even a condom-all of which are contextualised by the suggestion implicit in the title of the box. When engaging with the box, the audience can touch each item and consider its possibilities, they have to directly engage with the objects and in this way the objects are transformed into being performative; they do not function until they become actioned by the audiences interaction with them. The interaction does not have to be the act of insertion but simply by handling and considering the items within this context, they open up possible new primary experiences.
Kaprow’s Happenings can be understood as planned or spontaneous acts; acts that unfold within the fabric of life praxis and the every day rather than in designated art spaces or venues. Kaprow developed happenings into an open ended form, rejecting the precise theatrical scripting of his early work, so that they had no literary dimension and no formal dialectical structure. Kaprow has remained insistent that Happenings should not have a direct point or message, the audience are not addressed and ‘nothing is won, told or provoked’. Despite the clearly performative nature of Happenings, Kaprow stripped the form bare of many of the characteristics that could have designated them as theatre but through the employment of the everyday utilised a particular theatricality. In the most striking and successful Happenings it is impossible to distinguish between the traditional boundaries and distinctions, particularly when the unfold within existing habitats, landscapes and environments that already exist as part of day to day experience, as they do in Calling:
In the city, people stand at street corners and wait. For each of them: A car pulls up, someone calls out a name, the person gets in, they drive off. During the trip, the person is wrapped in aluminum foil. The car is parked at a meter somewhere, is left there, locked; the silver person sitting motionless in the back seat.
Someone unlocks the car, drives off. The foil is removed from the per-son; he or she is wrapped in cloth or tied into a laundry bag. The car stops, the person is dumped at a public garage and the car goes away.
At the garage, a waiting auto starts up, the person is picked up from the concrete pavement, is hauled into the car, is taken to the information booth at Grand Central Station. The person is propped up against it and left.
The person calls out names, and hears the others brought there also call. They call out for some time. Then they work loose from their wrappings and leave the train station.
They telephone certain numbers. The phone rings and rings. Finally, it is answered, a name is asked for, and immediately the other end clicks off.
In the woods, the persons call out names and hear hidden answers.
Here and there, they come upon people dangling upside down from ropes. They rip the people's clothes off and go away.
The naked figures call to each other in the woods for a long time until they are tired. Silence.
(Kaprow 1965:203-204)
The Happenings themselves become a part of the landscape and might be understood to participate in the construction and experience of those environments themselves. In Calling, we can see that there is no delineation between performers and audience and no contingency for dealing with passersby; the instructions produce conditions which unfold in real time, real places and with real people. There is no pretence and no staging, just acts and activities carried out.
I also forgot to mention that I have been accepted to write a book review for an online journal Platform. I found out on the day of the Camden performance and so it just kind of got forgot amid all the other excitement. I will not be able to share that with you though until it has been published.
Saturday 7 July 2007
Reflective Practitioner: A Decision
I had a meeting today with Olu to discuss his thoughts about my latest round of experiments; we both agreed that in terms of my research aims a final round of experiments is needed. I need a chance to explore and develop the dramaturgical insights that I have gained from the Camden process and performance. He has given me permission to proceed and start to get things moving with that.
Friday 6 July 2007
Maker’s Diary: Drop Out
I put out the feelers to see who might be interested in being involved in another round. Debbie is well up for it but Nikki is not interested and Nigel only ever did it as a favour for me. I will have to find more cast for another round but I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Farewell Nikki…thank you with a warm heart for all of the time and hard work you have invested in my project xx
Thursday 5 July 2007
Reflective practitioner: Another Round?
I have decided that another round of experiments is needed. I did not fully achieve my research aims and now think that I have a very clear idea of how to do that. I am going to start making moves towards organising that. I received some feedback from an audience member of Camden today and thought that I would share this with you:
My Siren Song Experience
I expect feelings of apprehension prior to attending an experimental, potentially interactive, piece of theatre are to be expected. The fact that I was a member of the production crew and had invited a few friends along, who had in turn invited a few of their friends along, seemed to increase these feelings exponentially.
Being the most closely connected to the production of the group meant I was regularly interrogated for a synopsis of the evenings proceedings. Despite being aware of the basic outline, I was uncertain of exactly how the evening would pan out and thus found it rather hard to relate to the group what they should expect. From somewhere, I think one of my friends who had read the blurb, came the word 'trauma'. This became the stock descriptor of the evening. Whenever a new arrival at the bar where we were rendez-vouzing asked the fateful question, the response now became “trauma” with a smile of irony added in for good measure.
Once we had all amassed, we headed off to find the theatre. Already late, and rather unsure of the venues exact location, the journey there became somewhat of a mission and soon developed into a joke. “So this is the idea of traumatic experimental theatre”, came the resounding murmur from the group.
Just as despair was setting in, we found the place. Relief and anxiety are very strange when taken mixed. We entered the space and took our seats, eyes expectantly following the red satin girls. An introduction was made, but the line between reality and performance was largely indistinguishable. First person monologues or conversations with the audience? It was hard to tell. References to an absent party whetted the appetite for late arrivals and built the suspense.
Proceedings continued; clear meaning still murky. Responses from the audience were elicited, though tenuous. A small group interacted freely, naturally partaking, while the majority sat awkward, unsure of their role.
Ripples of laughter from wit, but more often from tension, the performance continued, punctuated with ambiguous glances. I was not here for meaning so felt no need to ask questions. I came for entertainment and took every moment as it came. But my friends, for the most part, had eyes that asked Why? What? While their tongues remained frozen, locked in their role as audience members. Observers.
On occasion volunteers were needed. In the first instance I offered myself out of desire. In the second instance I offered myself to fill in the gaps. All of my friends seemed very reticent to offer, so I felt it my duty to make the performance what I felt it should be.
I smiled at our option to stop a performance. It felt empowering as an audience member, though I never exercised that control. At moments I felt I should but was held back by the sense that the moment of tension or trauma would pass; be resolved, and leave in its place a feeling of contentment. In a way it did, but I think the feeling would be more accurately described as relief rather than contentment.
The sight of bare flesh aroused something in me, but in the context of its occurrence was tainted with guilt. As shallow as it is, I knew the sight of those beautiful breasts would result in a slightly more positive response from at least one of my friends. Oh, the ease of male satisfaction. My sense of endurance began to fade towards the end as the subjection to traumatic experiences and stories continued. As a preference, I am not one who thrives on harrowing experiences, so was somewhat relieved to reach the end of the performance. It was hard to gauge my friend’s response to the performance, although for anyone to say that they enjoyed such an experience would be rather strange and masochistic in itself. At least in my opinion.
I need to get myself organised for my research trip to Edinburgh Fringe Festival but I will keep you posted of any PaR developments or activity. I may keep updating while I am in Edinburgh just for fun….to share my experiences as a reflective participant…as I am sure that some of the things I see will impact upon my thinking (well at least I hope they will). Roll on Summer.
My Siren Song Experience
I expect feelings of apprehension prior to attending an experimental, potentially interactive, piece of theatre are to be expected. The fact that I was a member of the production crew and had invited a few friends along, who had in turn invited a few of their friends along, seemed to increase these feelings exponentially.
Being the most closely connected to the production of the group meant I was regularly interrogated for a synopsis of the evenings proceedings. Despite being aware of the basic outline, I was uncertain of exactly how the evening would pan out and thus found it rather hard to relate to the group what they should expect. From somewhere, I think one of my friends who had read the blurb, came the word 'trauma'. This became the stock descriptor of the evening. Whenever a new arrival at the bar where we were rendez-vouzing asked the fateful question, the response now became “trauma” with a smile of irony added in for good measure.
Once we had all amassed, we headed off to find the theatre. Already late, and rather unsure of the venues exact location, the journey there became somewhat of a mission and soon developed into a joke. “So this is the idea of traumatic experimental theatre”, came the resounding murmur from the group.
Just as despair was setting in, we found the place. Relief and anxiety are very strange when taken mixed. We entered the space and took our seats, eyes expectantly following the red satin girls. An introduction was made, but the line between reality and performance was largely indistinguishable. First person monologues or conversations with the audience? It was hard to tell. References to an absent party whetted the appetite for late arrivals and built the suspense.
Proceedings continued; clear meaning still murky. Responses from the audience were elicited, though tenuous. A small group interacted freely, naturally partaking, while the majority sat awkward, unsure of their role.
Ripples of laughter from wit, but more often from tension, the performance continued, punctuated with ambiguous glances. I was not here for meaning so felt no need to ask questions. I came for entertainment and took every moment as it came. But my friends, for the most part, had eyes that asked Why? What? While their tongues remained frozen, locked in their role as audience members. Observers.
On occasion volunteers were needed. In the first instance I offered myself out of desire. In the second instance I offered myself to fill in the gaps. All of my friends seemed very reticent to offer, so I felt it my duty to make the performance what I felt it should be.
I smiled at our option to stop a performance. It felt empowering as an audience member, though I never exercised that control. At moments I felt I should but was held back by the sense that the moment of tension or trauma would pass; be resolved, and leave in its place a feeling of contentment. In a way it did, but I think the feeling would be more accurately described as relief rather than contentment.
The sight of bare flesh aroused something in me, but in the context of its occurrence was tainted with guilt. As shallow as it is, I knew the sight of those beautiful breasts would result in a slightly more positive response from at least one of my friends. Oh, the ease of male satisfaction. My sense of endurance began to fade towards the end as the subjection to traumatic experiences and stories continued. As a preference, I am not one who thrives on harrowing experiences, so was somewhat relieved to reach the end of the performance. It was hard to gauge my friend’s response to the performance, although for anyone to say that they enjoyed such an experience would be rather strange and masochistic in itself. At least in my opinion.
I need to get myself organised for my research trip to Edinburgh Fringe Festival but I will keep you posted of any PaR developments or activity. I may keep updating while I am in Edinburgh just for fun….to share my experiences as a reflective participant…as I am sure that some of the things I see will impact upon my thinking (well at least I hope they will). Roll on Summer.
Wednesday 4 July 2007
Reflective Practitioner: Camden People’s Theatre Performance
Camden turned out to be a catalogue of disasters from start to finish! We had issues over the deposit for the car and for various reasons Nigel was not allowed to drive the hire car, so Nikki stepped up bless her but was very very nervous about driving in London. We got desperately lost and despite leaving an extra 3 hours travel time we were terribly late for our get in….not a good start. We then could not find anywhere to bloody park…there were no showers or changing facilities at the venue. We had a massive tech failure during the show and now as a result have very little in the way of video footage…we were not allowed to remove the seating afterall….16 members of the audience were over 20 mins late and as they made up the majority of the audience we had to start late and wait for them. The audience still had to cross the traditional divide and this caused untold difficulties. On the way home we could not find the M25 and ended up going a ridiculously long way home. It was a crazy, emotional and very stressful day all in all. It was very trying for all of us and I think that the malarkey pre-performance impacted upon the performers, so that they were all stressed out and exhausted before we even got started. (head in hands…and a big sigh)
The performance itself had highs and lows and did not come off as I had hoped which the seating arrangements contributed to enormously. However, despite those issues there were some really exciting moments that definitely moved towards achieving some of my research aims….and confirmed some of my expectations. I have taken a little time to reflect on the performance itself and wanted to share my thoughts.
The ‘She’ Texts
These were really well received and both female performers really opened them up and made them their own like they have never done before once faced with a live audience. They adlibbed and responded thoughtfully and witty ways to the audiences reception of the speeches…the way one would in a ‘real’ life social situation…such as wedding…party etc….I was really pleased with this. They both finally took up personal positions to the material that they were delivering as well, making choices about how they felt about the things that they were delivering…great! The speeches worked well as a device to introduce the key things that the performance wanted to explore and they seemed to relax the audience. Because they were delivered from cue cards and as if part of a ‘real’ life formal function, they hinted at the performers being present as hosts rather than as ‘actors’. This took away the professional divide that usually exists between performer and audience and was hopefully less intimidating thus encouraging the audience to have a go to. The speeches seemed to work also to contextualise the audience then as guest. The speeches presumed the audiences familiarity of ‘her’ and of the social connotations associated with the device of the ‘speech’ rather than monologue.
The Games
There was a great deal of reluctance to participate in the games to begin with, the performers had to work really hard to try and get the audience to enter into the space. Again, I think that the seating arrangements and the architecture of the space was very much working against us. The audience had to cross over into the performance space in order to participate, which required them to break convention and take a leap of faith. Once things got going the audience began to trust that contract a little more and relaxed into it when they realised that there were no ‘tricks’ and that they would not be humiliated in any way. Two of the games that were particularly successful were pass her parcel and she was a woman. There was an awesome moment when the audience overthrew the performers and refused to end the game until one lady had taken her turn….it was wonderful.
Scenes
None of the audience stopped any of the scenes, not did they ask for any changes. I think that this was because to participate in that way held a lot of risk because there was an element of professionalism or skill perceived to be required and no social or cultural context to govern that scenario….no precedent and so the brain struggles to understand through the process of schema. I think that the scenes may have actually served to alienate the audience and dissolve the radical potential of any previous liminality created by the games. As well as being offered the opportunity to stop or change the scenes the audience had the opportunity to tell us a story of their own instead-needless to say, no one took us up on the offer…which was a huge shame.
Developmental Thoughts
The games worked really well but if I do another round of experiments (which I now realise is looking like a necessity) I need to find a way of generating a liminal space that is sustained throughout the entire performance…the audience need to enter into the liminal space form the off. The need to step into the liminal and remain there, rather than having to keep stepping in and out of it; no barriers, I need to eliminate theatre architecture altogether.
I need to develop a structure that is entirely game, rule and task-based, which means entirely doing away with all of the scenes and elements that have a link (even in post) with drama. In order for the audience to invest there needs to only be socially and culturally recognisable practices…but re-functioned to create the possibility of liminoid acts. Liminal space + games, rules & tasks= liminoid acts. Liminoid acts are creatorly, communal performances.
I liked the stop-mask but need to develop something else to do this that is directly drawn from the every day and life praxis….a familiar cultural/social practice.
Right I am exhausted still today but will come to this at a later date…I need to do some probing about the possibility of a final round of experiments.
The performance itself had highs and lows and did not come off as I had hoped which the seating arrangements contributed to enormously. However, despite those issues there were some really exciting moments that definitely moved towards achieving some of my research aims….and confirmed some of my expectations. I have taken a little time to reflect on the performance itself and wanted to share my thoughts.
The ‘She’ Texts
These were really well received and both female performers really opened them up and made them their own like they have never done before once faced with a live audience. They adlibbed and responded thoughtfully and witty ways to the audiences reception of the speeches…the way one would in a ‘real’ life social situation…such as wedding…party etc….I was really pleased with this. They both finally took up personal positions to the material that they were delivering as well, making choices about how they felt about the things that they were delivering…great! The speeches worked well as a device to introduce the key things that the performance wanted to explore and they seemed to relax the audience. Because they were delivered from cue cards and as if part of a ‘real’ life formal function, they hinted at the performers being present as hosts rather than as ‘actors’. This took away the professional divide that usually exists between performer and audience and was hopefully less intimidating thus encouraging the audience to have a go to. The speeches seemed to work also to contextualise the audience then as guest. The speeches presumed the audiences familiarity of ‘her’ and of the social connotations associated with the device of the ‘speech’ rather than monologue.
The Games
There was a great deal of reluctance to participate in the games to begin with, the performers had to work really hard to try and get the audience to enter into the space. Again, I think that the seating arrangements and the architecture of the space was very much working against us. The audience had to cross over into the performance space in order to participate, which required them to break convention and take a leap of faith. Once things got going the audience began to trust that contract a little more and relaxed into it when they realised that there were no ‘tricks’ and that they would not be humiliated in any way. Two of the games that were particularly successful were pass her parcel and she was a woman. There was an awesome moment when the audience overthrew the performers and refused to end the game until one lady had taken her turn….it was wonderful.
Scenes
None of the audience stopped any of the scenes, not did they ask for any changes. I think that this was because to participate in that way held a lot of risk because there was an element of professionalism or skill perceived to be required and no social or cultural context to govern that scenario….no precedent and so the brain struggles to understand through the process of schema. I think that the scenes may have actually served to alienate the audience and dissolve the radical potential of any previous liminality created by the games. As well as being offered the opportunity to stop or change the scenes the audience had the opportunity to tell us a story of their own instead-needless to say, no one took us up on the offer…which was a huge shame.
Developmental Thoughts
The games worked really well but if I do another round of experiments (which I now realise is looking like a necessity) I need to find a way of generating a liminal space that is sustained throughout the entire performance…the audience need to enter into the liminal space form the off. The need to step into the liminal and remain there, rather than having to keep stepping in and out of it; no barriers, I need to eliminate theatre architecture altogether.
I need to develop a structure that is entirely game, rule and task-based, which means entirely doing away with all of the scenes and elements that have a link (even in post) with drama. In order for the audience to invest there needs to only be socially and culturally recognisable practices…but re-functioned to create the possibility of liminoid acts. Liminal space + games, rules & tasks= liminoid acts. Liminoid acts are creatorly, communal performances.
I liked the stop-mask but need to develop something else to do this that is directly drawn from the every day and life praxis….a familiar cultural/social practice.
Right I am exhausted still today but will come to this at a later date…I need to do some probing about the possibility of a final round of experiments.
Sunday 1 July 2007
Maker’s Diary: Utter Fear
I have not made an entry for a few days because I have either been in the rehearsal room or making props/arrangements etc for Camden. The performance is now fixed and is getting towards being as polished as it is going to be in the space of time we now have. We have our dress rehearsal tomorrow and I have managed to get a few people to come along as audience, so that the performers can get a feel for the new contract of the show. It would be almost impossible to try a full run without people about to play the games….
I have got everything we need for the show ready now. All props are bought and made, cameras are booked and new programmes made…will be picking them up tomorrow. The hire van is booked too. Here is the final structure of the show:
FINAL SHOW STRUCTURE
Where did she go playing at start as audience enter (fairly loud)
Nigel greets audience at the door and offers a programme. He ushers them into the space where they are met by Debbie and Nikki. They make small talk. Nikki and Debbie make them welcome and thank them for coming (saying stuff like how excited they are and how fun it’s going to be, that she’s not here yet but to make themselves at home). They key is to treat them as guest, must set up that contract and maintain I throughout the entire production. Need to decide who SHE or HER is to you. Need to create a mask, a performance presence that is truthful and meaningful.
Once all the audience are in Nigel will come in and whisper to Debbie that we are ready to get going. She will step up onto the tallest block and clear her throat. She will thank them all for coming and that she just wanted to say a few words about her before we really get started.
Stop track-where did she go (fade out)
SHE text One
Nikki says ‘While we wait for her, I want to play a game, will you join me?’. Nikki leads them in a game of WHY IS SHE CRYING CHARADES (she explains the rules and starts. Anyone who guesses gets an envelope from Nigel).
Nigel gets on the block and puts the stop-mask on he says ‘STOP’ ‘She always thinks about him when she lays in the moonlight and pleasures herself’
Debbie then says ‘I want to play a game. Will you join me?’ Debbie leads them in a game of WHO IS SHE (she explains the rules and starts. Anyone who guesses who they are gets an envelop as a prize from Nigel)
Nigel gets on the block and puts the stop-mask on he says ‘STOP’ ‘She cuts her body because she hates herself’
Nikki says ‘I want to play a new game, will you join me?’ Nikki leads them in a game of SHE HAS NEVER (he explains the rules and starts)
Nigel gets on the block and puts the stop-mask on he says ‘STOP’ ‘She isn’t here tonight because she can’t bring herself to face any of you’
Nigel takes off his mask and says ‘We know a story about her, do you want us to share it with you or does someone here want to tell us about her? If you want to share just step up’. (If some one steps up let them do there story. If no one steps up then we will perform)
Her, She, Him Text. Debbie tells them that ‘anytime they want to end the story, they just have to call out STOP’. (If you have to perform, keep your clothes on for this one) Once you are done Nikki will ask them ‘Does anyone wish to add or change any of our story about her? (Do not perform it again but give them the opportunity to express or explain…unless they particularly ask for you to re-perform it)
Debbie gets up onto the top block and says ‘I want to play a new game, will you join me?’. Debbie leads them in a game of STORYTELLING; SHE WAS A WOMAN….she explains the rules and starts.
Nigel gets on the block and puts the stop-mask on he says ‘STOP’ ‘she once told me that writing helps her purge the past’
They do the inscription texts (instead of Her SHE HIM, they write one word from the sentences that they are speaking and whoever is writing puts on the stop-mask) and then move around the audience offering parts of their bodies to write on, as they give each one the pen they say, ‘tell us what they did to her’.
Nikki says ‘I want to play another game, will you join me?’ She leads them in a game of I WENT TO THE DEATH SHOP AND I BOUGHT….(she explains the rules and starts, the winner gets an envelope)
Nigel takes off his mask and says ‘We know a story about her, do you want us to share it with you or does someone here want to tell us about her? If you want to share just step up’. (If some one steps up let them do there story. If no one steps up then we will perform)
Rape Text. Debbie tells them that ‘anytime they want to end the story, they just have to call out STOP’. (If you have to perform, get undressed and re-dress in your casual performance clothes) Once you are done Nikki will ask them ‘Does anyone wish to add or change any of our story about her? (Do not perform it again but give them the opportunity to express or explain…unless they particularly ask for you to re-perform it)
Nikki says ‘I want to play a new game, will you join me?’ Nikki leads them in a game of Musical Tell you (he explains the rules and is the master of the game)
Start track-musical chairs (need to be able to pause it all the time-no fade out) Loud
Nigel gets on the block and puts the stop-mask on he says ‘STOP’ ‘she isn’t here tonight because she simply cannot face any of you’
Debbie will say ‘I want to play one last game, will you join me?’ She will lead them in a game of Pass the Parcel (She will explain the rules and start)
Start track- lambikins (no fade, need to be able to keep pausing it) Loud
Nigel gets on the block and puts the stop-mask on he says ‘STOP’ ‘She told me that she was planning to take her own life at the weekend’
Nigel takes off his mask and says ‘We know a story about her, do you want us to share it with you or does someone here want to tell us about her? If you want to share just step up’. (If some one steps up let them do there story. If no one steps up then we will perform)
Moon Text. Debbie tells them that ‘anytime they want to end the story, they just have to call out STOP’. Once you are done Nikki will ask them ‘Does anyone wish to add or change any of our story about her? (Do not perform it again but give them the opportunity to express or explain…unless they particularly ask for you to re-perform it)
Start track-disturbed (as they all redress needs to fade out) Loudish
Nikki will step up onto the block do SHE text 2
Start track- audience entrance music (need to stop it abruptly) Loudish
Music starts to play and they all get up and start to mingle and dance with the audience. Nigel will stand on the block wearing the stop-mask, after a while he will yell out ‘STOP’.
Start track- outro (needs to just finish abruptly) Loud
I have got everything we need for the show ready now. All props are bought and made, cameras are booked and new programmes made…will be picking them up tomorrow. The hire van is booked too. Here is the final structure of the show:
FINAL SHOW STRUCTURE
Where did she go playing at start as audience enter (fairly loud)
Nigel greets audience at the door and offers a programme. He ushers them into the space where they are met by Debbie and Nikki. They make small talk. Nikki and Debbie make them welcome and thank them for coming (saying stuff like how excited they are and how fun it’s going to be, that she’s not here yet but to make themselves at home). They key is to treat them as guest, must set up that contract and maintain I throughout the entire production. Need to decide who SHE or HER is to you. Need to create a mask, a performance presence that is truthful and meaningful.
Once all the audience are in Nigel will come in and whisper to Debbie that we are ready to get going. She will step up onto the tallest block and clear her throat. She will thank them all for coming and that she just wanted to say a few words about her before we really get started.
Stop track-where did she go (fade out)
SHE text One
Nikki says ‘While we wait for her, I want to play a game, will you join me?’. Nikki leads them in a game of WHY IS SHE CRYING CHARADES (she explains the rules and starts. Anyone who guesses gets an envelope from Nigel).
Nigel gets on the block and puts the stop-mask on he says ‘STOP’ ‘She always thinks about him when she lays in the moonlight and pleasures herself’
Debbie then says ‘I want to play a game. Will you join me?’ Debbie leads them in a game of WHO IS SHE (she explains the rules and starts. Anyone who guesses who they are gets an envelop as a prize from Nigel)
Nigel gets on the block and puts the stop-mask on he says ‘STOP’ ‘She cuts her body because she hates herself’
Nikki says ‘I want to play a new game, will you join me?’ Nikki leads them in a game of SHE HAS NEVER (he explains the rules and starts)
Nigel gets on the block and puts the stop-mask on he says ‘STOP’ ‘She isn’t here tonight because she can’t bring herself to face any of you’
Nigel takes off his mask and says ‘We know a story about her, do you want us to share it with you or does someone here want to tell us about her? If you want to share just step up’. (If some one steps up let them do there story. If no one steps up then we will perform)
Her, She, Him Text. Debbie tells them that ‘anytime they want to end the story, they just have to call out STOP’. (If you have to perform, keep your clothes on for this one) Once you are done Nikki will ask them ‘Does anyone wish to add or change any of our story about her? (Do not perform it again but give them the opportunity to express or explain…unless they particularly ask for you to re-perform it)
Debbie gets up onto the top block and says ‘I want to play a new game, will you join me?’. Debbie leads them in a game of STORYTELLING; SHE WAS A WOMAN….she explains the rules and starts.
Nigel gets on the block and puts the stop-mask on he says ‘STOP’ ‘she once told me that writing helps her purge the past’
They do the inscription texts (instead of Her SHE HIM, they write one word from the sentences that they are speaking and whoever is writing puts on the stop-mask) and then move around the audience offering parts of their bodies to write on, as they give each one the pen they say, ‘tell us what they did to her’.
Nikki says ‘I want to play another game, will you join me?’ She leads them in a game of I WENT TO THE DEATH SHOP AND I BOUGHT….(she explains the rules and starts, the winner gets an envelope)
Nigel takes off his mask and says ‘We know a story about her, do you want us to share it with you or does someone here want to tell us about her? If you want to share just step up’. (If some one steps up let them do there story. If no one steps up then we will perform)
Rape Text. Debbie tells them that ‘anytime they want to end the story, they just have to call out STOP’. (If you have to perform, get undressed and re-dress in your casual performance clothes) Once you are done Nikki will ask them ‘Does anyone wish to add or change any of our story about her? (Do not perform it again but give them the opportunity to express or explain…unless they particularly ask for you to re-perform it)
Nikki says ‘I want to play a new game, will you join me?’ Nikki leads them in a game of Musical Tell you (he explains the rules and is the master of the game)
Start track-musical chairs (need to be able to pause it all the time-no fade out) Loud
Nigel gets on the block and puts the stop-mask on he says ‘STOP’ ‘she isn’t here tonight because she simply cannot face any of you’
Debbie will say ‘I want to play one last game, will you join me?’ She will lead them in a game of Pass the Parcel (She will explain the rules and start)
Start track- lambikins (no fade, need to be able to keep pausing it) Loud
Nigel gets on the block and puts the stop-mask on he says ‘STOP’ ‘She told me that she was planning to take her own life at the weekend’
Nigel takes off his mask and says ‘We know a story about her, do you want us to share it with you or does someone here want to tell us about her? If you want to share just step up’. (If some one steps up let them do there story. If no one steps up then we will perform)
Moon Text. Debbie tells them that ‘anytime they want to end the story, they just have to call out STOP’. Once you are done Nikki will ask them ‘Does anyone wish to add or change any of our story about her? (Do not perform it again but give them the opportunity to express or explain…unless they particularly ask for you to re-perform it)
Start track-disturbed (as they all redress needs to fade out) Loudish
Nikki will step up onto the block do SHE text 2
Start track- audience entrance music (need to stop it abruptly) Loudish
Music starts to play and they all get up and start to mingle and dance with the audience. Nigel will stand on the block wearing the stop-mask, after a while he will yell out ‘STOP’.
Start track- outro (needs to just finish abruptly) Loud
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