I have now planned the first devising session and wanted to share that with you:
First Devising Session
Explanation of project
Go through the brief (hand out)
Set down aims/objectives of the project (hand out)
Go through tasks that need to be achieved (handout)
Housekeeping
Go through and get their availability for the next week or so
Vocal Warm Up
Diaphragm breathing (x5)
Diaphragm breathing with Haa on exhale (x5)
Tongue Trills (x5)
Lip Trills (x5)
Exhale with Aaa (x 2)
Exhale with Ooo (x 2)
Exhale with Eee (x 2)
Mmmeee long and drawn out (x2)
Mmmay long and drawn out (x2)
Mmmah long and drawn out (x2)
Mmmoe long and drawn out (x2)
Mmmoo long and drawn out (x2)
Siren moving up (x2)
Girl gargoyle guy gargoyle
Betties bitter butter made her batter bitter
Physical Warm Up
Work through correct posture (golden thread technique)
Shoulder and neck rolls (x 5 each)
Shoulder bounce (x5)
Tense & release exercise (x 2 toes to tips with arms in air)
Yawn & stretch exercise
Chewing toffee exercise
Move around the room and I will call out instructions
Devising Warm Up
Introduction Mimic Game (One person steps in and introduces themselves, however they like, movement song etc, and then everyone else copies them. Each person gets a go at introducing themselves.)
Yes Lets! Game (one person says ‘Lets all….’, the rest reply enthusiastically with ‘Yes! Lets all….They then proceed to do that thing whole heartedly until someone else says ‘Lets all’)
Follow the Leader (it is important that they make every effort to copy exactly and seriously)
The Flag Game (they are waiting for the flag white they are saved but black they are all dead. A game of concentration and group dynamics)
Devising Session
She is a ? (Form a circle and once you step in you can’t stop until someone else buts in and takes your place. They have to think of all the different things that a woman or female can be called)
Her Confessions (has the same rules as the previous game but the confession have to be a statement, not a story)
Once Upon a time there was a woman. (One person starts to tell a story, if someone wishes to but in or start a new story, they have to say STOP and then start with the beginning line each time)
I went to the death shop (same as I went to the sex shop, only all the ways you can think to kill yourself)
Warm Down
Black Liquid scenario on the floor
Breathing out
All of the games in this session are designed to either generate material about Her for the speeches (She is a ? & Her Confessions) or are attempts at games which present the opportunity for liminoid acts (Once Upon a time there was a woman & I went to the death shop). I am hoping that we will be able to play each game endlessly, pushing it to its limits and maybe through that process discovering new games and structures.
The Hand Out
Premise
It is HER party; hats, food and drink but SHE never appears. The performers will play games and give speeches endlessly for 6 hours, like they are stuck in a time warp, destined to repeat them selves over and over but with nothing ever being the same twice. Through, games, tasks and repetition, the audience and performers will work together to piece together HER, to generate the missing SHE; endless possibilities will play out and be generated over a 6 hour period. Who is She, What is your relationship with HER?
Outline
This will be a durational piece of work that will last approx 6 hours. The audience will be able to come and go as they please, moving freely through the space. There will also be a diary booth that the performers will take individual audience members into throughout in order to record their thoughts about their experience.
The work will consist of 2 overriding structures that will marshal the activity of both the performers and the audience. The structure will last for approx 2 hours and will be repeated 3 times.
Much of this will be developed through a devising process, so it is difficult to be particularly specific at this stage about the structures that will marshal this work.
There will be two main things going on: Speeches and Games. I am hoping that there will be many speeches and 3 games. I have already decided on two games but everything else will have to be discovered through the devising process.
Aims & Objectives:
A Little Theory
Research Project Title
The Creatorly Participant: A Theory of Production and Reception.
(Re) Defining the Role of the Audiences of Contemporary Participatory Theatre Events.
Aims
To identify key strategies, methodologies and devices being applied in various contemporary participatory theatre.
To examine and explore the role of the audience at various contemporary theatre events.
To generate and develop new primary and secondary source material that identifies documents and disseminates the nature of various participatory theatre audiences’ roles.
To develop a written thesis of production and reception that will conceptualise the ontology of the relationships between particular and specific participatory theatre events and their audiences.
To explore the wider aesthetic, social and cultural implications of those relationships within the wider arena of contemporary performance theory.
Objectives
How can participatory theatre be defined?
What are the key practices that make up the arena of contemporary participatory theatre?
What is the ontology of specific and particular participatory theatre audiences’ roles?
What are the implications of those relationships between the work and its audiences for wider theoretical concerns?
A Little Background Info & Theory
I have been a performance practitioner for over 5 years now, running my own performance group: Vertical Exchange. As well as being involved in contemporary performance as a practitioner, I am also a theatre scholar; Siren Song is part of a year long, ongoing project that makes up the PaR section of my PhD research. (In fact this will be the 3rd development stage of the work; it has already been performed in Winchester and at Camden People's Theatre in London). I wanted to take a little time just to clarify and theoretically contextualize my work for you.
As I mentioned, Siren Song is part of my PhD thesis, which is entitled: Participatory Theatre: (Re) defining the role of the theatrical spectatorship. My research project seeks to investigate the production and reception of specific participatory theatre events through the actual experience of the makers and audiences. I am primarily concerned with the phenomenology of particular participatory events and the role that is taken up by the actual, material audiences in attendance. I am looking to conceptualise and theorise those actual experiences through applied cognitive materialism in order to develop a localised and specific theory of production and reception.
The objective of a PhD is to contribute original new knowledge to an existing field of scholarly research. The AHRC’s definition of PhD research is built around a frame of three key features that constitute and outline what may be classified as rigorous research:
• it must define a series of research questions or problems that will be addressed in the course of the research. It must also define its objectives in terms of seeking to enhance knowledge and understanding relating to the questions or problems to be addressed
• it must specify a research context for the questions or problems to be addressed. You must specify why it is important that these particular questions or problems should be addressed; what other research is being or has been conducted in this area; and what particular contribution this project will make to the advancement of creativity, insights, knowledge and understanding in this area
• it must specify the research methods for addressing and answering the research questions or problems. You must state how, in the course of the research project, you will seek to answer the questions, or advance available knowledge and understanding of the problems. You should also explain the rationale for your chosen research methods and why you think they provide the most appropriate means by which to answer the research questions.
(AHRC 2005) [i]
The aim of this piece of work is to develop and identify strategies and devices of performance practice, that enable the audience to take up the same role ad the ‘makers’ and ‘performers’ (a role which I have coined as the ‘creatorly participant’). This means that I am pioneering a new and experimental form of participatory practice; hence the reason you may have found the concept ‘perplexing’ or alien. Forging into new and un-chartered territory is always an ambiguous and risky activity. (As I will go on to explain, risk is a vital concept and a key factor that underpins the project).
With Siren Song, I aim to bring together a group of performers and an audience in a particular ‘space’ (the party), at a particular ‘time’ (for 6 hours on the 22nd Oct), then through a pre-determined structure of games and tasks, the performers and audience will work together to produce a postdramatic performance text. The whole point of the performance is that by playing certain games and undertaking specific tasks both the performers and audience generate a unique (to that particular event), polyphonic, multiplicitus, performative manifestation of HER/SHE. That performative manifestation of HER/SHE will not be a fixed, fictional ‘character’ but instead will be a set of possibilities, a plethora of ‘could’, ‘should’, ‘has’, ‘is’ an ‘will be’, HER/SHE’s. Thus HER/SHE will manifest in performance as a multi-dimensional presence; a presence that will be unique and personal for each and every person present, audience and performer alike. There is no conclusion, no cohesive whole or even an end to the work; potentially it could go for an eternity, dynamic, fluid and forever shifting. This dynamic repetition is a widely recognised device within contemporary practice. The element of the ‘unknown’ and the repetition push the boundaries of performance and make the event an actual experience, something that has to be lived through, not simply watched or witnessed; the audience become integral to the event. There is no event without the audience’s participation. Both audience and performer take an equal amount of risk during the 6 hour event. Risk and investment are the core ingredients for the success of the event.
I am sure that you can now understand why nothing except the games, tasks and space can be fixed before the event itself. I have no idea what will happen during the event itself and that is really the point. We will only be preparing for the event, not rehearsing in a traditional sense. The process will be designed to generate material and I do not want to fix too much before that journey begins, as this would betray the practice that I am adopting for the making of Siren Song. I want the performers to be involved at the very heart of the creative process. It’s scary but really fun and exciting at the same time.
My practice sits firmly within an established body of work and has developed out of a 20 year trend for a particular brand of devising. (I would suggest that perhaps you have a quick look at the work of groups such as Forced Entertainment, Uninvited Guests, Blast Theory, Lone Twin, Imitating the Dog, Goat Island, The Wooster Group, Punch Drunk, Stan’s Café, Reckless Sleepers and The Little Dove Theatre Company). If you want to look at some of the criticism and theory that surrounds these practices and to some extent helps to understand my own, you might want to look at the writings of Auslander, Zarilli, Kaye, Kershaw, Fuchs and Etchells; all of which chart and explain where my work sits in relation to other practice and how it has developed from the practices of other makers, like the ones listed above.
The games and tasks will generate new material each time they are played or undertaken, thus I am not concerned about ‘monotony’ setting in. The audience will be free to come and go as they please, different people will be in the space at different times; so despite games being repeated, I very much doubt that they will elicit the same response for the many possible combinations of players at any one time. The games will be repeated but I suspect that they will create a totally different experience each time. It is repetition and games that will replace the traditional dialect of orthodox drama, these devices will take up the slack within the postdramatic situation, creating the tension, structure and pace.
I can understand how a lack of details might make you feel nervous or as if I am unsure as to what I am doing with the project, I anticipated that because of my previous two experiences of working with undergrad students on this project in the previous stages. I can assure you that I am completely in control and the whole process is underpinned by sound epistemological and ontological considerations as well as being marshalled by a rigorous research methodology. It is experimental practice that is breaking new ground and new ground always feels a little precarious.
The process will be a journey, one which continues on into the event itself. I am an experienced practitioner and have worked with performers on many similar projects. I have a whole ‘toolkit’ of strategies and practical devices that we will be applying in the devising process in order to develop and shape the work. I will be leading and guiding through actual material methods for the whole journey; you will not just be thrown in at the deep end. It is my responsibility to enable you, the performers to develop in the appropriate manner. It is a responsibility that I approach with respect and professionalism. My role will be more of a creative facilitator than that of a director. I don’t know if you have come across the term ‘creative performer’, but that is the role that I will be facilitating you to adopt.
Alison Oddey. Devising Theatre: A Practical and Theoretical Handbook, London: Routledge, 1994.
Deirdre Heddon & Jane Milling. Devising Performance: A Critical History, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).
Emma Govan, Helen Nicholson and Katie Normington. Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices, London & New York: Routledge 2007. All of these are great books for talking about this type of process.
Tuesday 25 September 2007
Monday 24 September 2007
Maker’s Diary: Devising Week-sorted
Right-devising times and spaces are now booked, confirmed with uni and performer’s. All I have to do now is actually plan them, which I am off to do now.
Reflective Practitioner: Feedback
In order to cheer myself up and do something positive and constructive I have done some feedback for the new writing that the student sent over to me. I have now e-mailed that to her but wanted to share it with you too:
Voicemail: Forgive?
Hey, hi, how you doing? Um yeah, never thought you’d hear from me again right? You sound really good on your machine, you know, healthy…Well there was another reason I called…Um yeah I owe you…about £120, once I’m outa here and workin’ again, I’ll send it to ya. Still at the same address? Well hope so you know ‘cus well I will come see yah.
[Long Pause]
I still meant what I said the other day, when I was fucked up I treated you like shit but now I’m getting clean so that is all gonna change. Obviously I can’t drink again but I’ll take you for a pint when I’m out just as a, you know, thanks for bein’ a mate sorta…yeah you get the idea…Anyway, just leaving a message and well, I will see you in a few weeks, knock on wood.
You need to be careful of the ‘thought tracks’ and work on the authenticity of the dialogue. You just need to think about what you are trying to communicate and why; think about your intentions and the voices intentions as it feels a little bit naive at the moment.
Voicemail: Forget.
It’s your mother. That toaster we bought you has been supposedly been recalled because old age pensioners keep getting electrocuted from it. Personally I think it’s silly business but then again what do I know? You still haven’t written to your grandparents yet for their 50th…Just send a care if you’re soooo busy. Nag nag nag. Call you later.
This is great! you just need to watch out for your syntax sometimes.
Voicemail: Lost.
Hi, is this where Patrick lives? I’m looking for Patrick Murphy, he’s having a birthday bash tonight and I’ve completely lost directions to his place. I’m driving a white Volvo and I’m going up and down State Street ‘cus I know that is where the party is, just don’t know which house. If you get this message Patrick, run outside and flag me down ok? Ok Patrick? Anyway, love you and sorry for being late. See you soon, buh bye.
Okay, I should have mentioned this before really but I don’t want you to use any names at all, I want to keep it more ambiguous than that, (there are also names in some of the other texts, so the same goes for those as well). You need to watch out in this one for consistency of intention and register. It implies that you don’t know Patrick but then you go on to address him in a way that implies you do. I like the reference to a party though, that will really fit nicely with the ‘live action’ of the performance.
Voicemail: Found?
Shit…is it you? Is it really you? My god…you sound so, Jesus, I thought maybe…I thought maybe you would be much older, well…sound much older. Shit I have your voicemail, not a good start. Listen, Caroline gave me your number as she thought it was about time we met as I’m in England for a few days. Wow, I can’t believe it, I just can’t believe that I’m actually inches (I am not convinced by this metaphor here) from meeting you, well that is if you want to. I’m sure it comes as a shock as it did me when I found out I had a cousin (again just watch out for the syntax and how it sounds when read aloud)…Well I shouldn’t tie up the line. Take care…Call me back?
Again, I really like this one, just think you need to think about the intentions and then finding an authentic voice for that scenario.
Voicemail: Cat
Hello there, I’m calling from the Westgate Veterinary Centre to remind you that it is time for your cat’s yearly check up. We advise you to make an appointment with us as soon as you can. You can email us on appointments at Westgate pets, that is all one word, dot com or you can phone us from 8am till 6.30pm on weekdays on 01964-320-320. Thank you.
Brilliant!
Voicemail: Invitations
[Heavy breathing for a long while] – Hey, (should there be a thought here?) we are going out for drinks tonight you silly bint! Trust you to forget. We’ll be in the Bell and Hammer ok? Love ya, see you soon.
[Next voicemail message, same voice as before but sounds of pub in the background] Where are you? Hun, I left you a message ages ago…Don’t tell me you’re with him right now…Yeesh, ok well we are still in the Bell and Hammer and you know how is trying to come onto Janine. Get your arse down here so we can save her. Ok, love ya, bye.
I like this a lot, it might be nice to extend the messages further and have a whole night of them, with the voice getting drunker and drunker, so maybe 3 or 4 more messages.
Voicemail: Possessions
Good morning, this is Ben calling from DIBA to remind you that tomorrow the car insurance policy you have with us will expire and we would advise you to renew it. You can call us back on this number at any time and one of my colleagues will be able to help you. Thank you.
Good. Just have a little think about the register that you employ, really try and nail that style of communication, getting jargon and industry specific words in there.
Voicemail: Celebrating?
I’m drunk and I’m in the clear. Ms Mush for Brains finally came to her senses and I’m heading towards a lot of cash. Who says accident help-lines aren’t a pile of shit eh? Ha ha, we did it! Twenty-five grand in hang and now I’m covered. So great. I’m in the Oak Room if you want to join. Speak to you soon. [Long kissing noise]
You need to address the grammar and syntax in this one it does not entirely make sense. Really try and use your grammar to inflect and direct the voice in performance.
Voicemail: Family Protocol
It’s your mother. Richard has had a heart tremor (?). He is in surgery having his pacemaker checked, just thought you’d like to know. I’m not going to call your father as why should he care but I thought you would want to know. We are in the hospital at the top of the hill, just upstairs from the A&E. Give us a quick text love? Bye.
Think carefully about the purpose of this message, and work out the intention; it is lacking authenticity at the moment.
The Room and the Champagne
We had finished our exams and were starting the new year. We were in my room fooling around as we used to. She had brought over some Champers that She anxious to down but I just wanted a small glass of it to make Her effort seem worthwhile.
She peeled away the film and undid the metal tie. She was so pleased with Herself when the cork popped in Her hand.
She filled a plastic flute, one for me and a large one for Her. I think She loved the lingering sound of the fizz as it rose then settled down. As we drank the juice of the Widow Clicquot, I tumbled slowly into a deep sleep whilst She gave me head. The bottle was empty when I came to, and the room was breezy cold with all the windows flung open like when She would expose Herself on impulse, only She had gone. Her old school blouse hung on the back of the door. Her skirt was still around Her waist.
She was perched out the large window, trying to unscramble the mood but the trees refused to move so She could not tell if it was half or full.
That night She did not sleep with me, that night She sat up in a chair, smoking and writing in the clouds She billowed.
This is brilliant, I really like the feel and content. You do need to think about consistency though, one minute you are saying that she was gone and then she is there; you need to make more sense of the time line and action. I really like this one and think you could even extend it; it has heart and a truthful sense of warmth that underpins it. You just need to work on it a little to draw that out more.
Interview
[All spoken by the same person]
Interviewee Number one, try to describe Her…
She is an angel, a saint, Mother Teresa and Lady Di, Godzilla, Juliet, Tamora and Boudicca, a hound, a jackal, the eyes that Gloucester lost, the wicked fiend, the bloody tyrant, the carnivorous lamb.
How so? How so? She is all these things yet not! Make sense man!
She is Narcissus and Hades; vanity and death.
Imagination and thematic thinking, surely? Come, come, set it all straight!
She is the apple of God and of my eye, a writhing metaphor in a snake pit, a laughing babe in a warm soft crib, bearing her fangs in order to seek approval and loving coos.
So you say She is a problem then?
Nay. She is the all-glorious white light of doom.
Again, I really like the sentiment but I feel that it needs more work on finding its voice and structure. The bits that I have highlighted in blue feel alien with the rest of the text and a bit contrived. I like the references that you have made to historical and literary characters; this is a theme that has come up in my previous development of the work and maybe something that you want to develop within this text. Love it.
Temper
She resides in a hothouse,
Her ghosts and she
But this sauna is where she would rather be.
She drinks glasses of ice and boiling cups of tea,
She exercises rigorously
Yet brushes her teeth.
Yet her ghosts are not temperate to her humid home
So to her displeasure,
They come and go.
It is possible she is reptilian
To some degree,
She has to live in this hothouse
And this hothouse is She.
I really like this; can you develop it to have a context, maybe as part of a diary entry?
Decisions over Breakfast Toast
Love me, hate me, chose between me or the gun.
That is what She would say to me every morning,
Usually over Toast and raspberry jam or butter.
You can tell a lot about a person by their spread;
She liked it smooth, not bitty, no nonsense abut it,
Even if Her words contradicted that idea sometimes.
Just like Her breakfast, She never let anyone touch it or Her love but you wouldn’t hate Her for that yet She never let you have bitterness or curiosity as emotions of choice.
It all boiled down to love, hate, Her or the gun.
I was never certain if I did in fact pick the best option of the three…
Watch out again for consistency; what are you trying to communicate? Give us a little bit more of a context. There are a lot of mixed metaphors and at the moment it feels a bit random and unconnected; you need to find the heart of it and show it to us.
The Beginning of Womanhood?!
At the age of 11 on a field trip, she noticed blood spots in her knickers whilst using the toilet by the ice cream stand. When she emerged, knickers in hand, She had the distinct feeling that She was dying. Then when She noticed how the ice cream man put strawberry sauce on some of the ices, She then thought that perhaps Her stomach had popped and She was leaking strawberry out of Herself and into Her knickers.
No tears stung Her eyes but vomit rushed out of Her mouth as She ensured the rest of her ice was fully regurgitated beside the school bus. That day, She threw away her animal print knickers, and spent the rest of Her time worrying if maybe she would need a cork for whenever she had food, especially come dinner-time. She never said a word about the incident and never touched strawberry ices again until she turned 15 and attended her first Sex Ed class.
Just perfect! I really enjoyed reading this one and I know it will fit with the themes and aesthetic of Siren Song down to a Tee! Can you extend it, maybe make it into a monologue? My only criticism is the Sex Ed at 15, that late? You need to ensure that this is authentic, even in fiction there has to be a heart, truthfulness that underpins and gives us something to make a connection with.
Voicemail: Forgive?
Hey, hi, how you doing? Um yeah, never thought you’d hear from me again right? You sound really good on your machine, you know, healthy…Well there was another reason I called…Um yeah I owe you…about £120, once I’m outa here and workin’ again, I’ll send it to ya. Still at the same address? Well hope so you know ‘cus well I will come see yah.
[Long Pause]
I still meant what I said the other day, when I was fucked up I treated you like shit but now I’m getting clean so that is all gonna change. Obviously I can’t drink again but I’ll take you for a pint when I’m out just as a, you know, thanks for bein’ a mate sorta…yeah you get the idea…Anyway, just leaving a message and well, I will see you in a few weeks, knock on wood.
You need to be careful of the ‘thought tracks’ and work on the authenticity of the dialogue. You just need to think about what you are trying to communicate and why; think about your intentions and the voices intentions as it feels a little bit naive at the moment.
Voicemail: Forget.
It’s your mother. That toaster we bought you has been supposedly been recalled because old age pensioners keep getting electrocuted from it. Personally I think it’s silly business but then again what do I know? You still haven’t written to your grandparents yet for their 50th…Just send a care if you’re soooo busy. Nag nag nag. Call you later.
This is great! you just need to watch out for your syntax sometimes.
Voicemail: Lost.
Hi, is this where Patrick lives? I’m looking for Patrick Murphy, he’s having a birthday bash tonight and I’ve completely lost directions to his place. I’m driving a white Volvo and I’m going up and down State Street ‘cus I know that is where the party is, just don’t know which house. If you get this message Patrick, run outside and flag me down ok? Ok Patrick? Anyway, love you and sorry for being late. See you soon, buh bye.
Okay, I should have mentioned this before really but I don’t want you to use any names at all, I want to keep it more ambiguous than that, (there are also names in some of the other texts, so the same goes for those as well). You need to watch out in this one for consistency of intention and register. It implies that you don’t know Patrick but then you go on to address him in a way that implies you do. I like the reference to a party though, that will really fit nicely with the ‘live action’ of the performance.
Voicemail: Found?
Shit…is it you? Is it really you? My god…you sound so, Jesus, I thought maybe…I thought maybe you would be much older, well…sound much older. Shit I have your voicemail, not a good start. Listen, Caroline gave me your number as she thought it was about time we met as I’m in England for a few days. Wow, I can’t believe it, I just can’t believe that I’m actually inches (I am not convinced by this metaphor here) from meeting you, well that is if you want to. I’m sure it comes as a shock as it did me when I found out I had a cousin (again just watch out for the syntax and how it sounds when read aloud)…Well I shouldn’t tie up the line. Take care…Call me back?
Again, I really like this one, just think you need to think about the intentions and then finding an authentic voice for that scenario.
Voicemail: Cat
Hello there, I’m calling from the Westgate Veterinary Centre to remind you that it is time for your cat’s yearly check up. We advise you to make an appointment with us as soon as you can. You can email us on appointments at Westgate pets, that is all one word, dot com or you can phone us from 8am till 6.30pm on weekdays on 01964-320-320. Thank you.
Brilliant!
Voicemail: Invitations
[Heavy breathing for a long while] – Hey, (should there be a thought here?) we are going out for drinks tonight you silly bint! Trust you to forget. We’ll be in the Bell and Hammer ok? Love ya, see you soon.
[Next voicemail message, same voice as before but sounds of pub in the background] Where are you? Hun, I left you a message ages ago…Don’t tell me you’re with him right now…Yeesh, ok well we are still in the Bell and Hammer and you know how is trying to come onto Janine. Get your arse down here so we can save her. Ok, love ya, bye.
I like this a lot, it might be nice to extend the messages further and have a whole night of them, with the voice getting drunker and drunker, so maybe 3 or 4 more messages.
Voicemail: Possessions
Good morning, this is Ben calling from DIBA to remind you that tomorrow the car insurance policy you have with us will expire and we would advise you to renew it. You can call us back on this number at any time and one of my colleagues will be able to help you. Thank you.
Good. Just have a little think about the register that you employ, really try and nail that style of communication, getting jargon and industry specific words in there.
Voicemail: Celebrating?
I’m drunk and I’m in the clear. Ms Mush for Brains finally came to her senses and I’m heading towards a lot of cash. Who says accident help-lines aren’t a pile of shit eh? Ha ha, we did it! Twenty-five grand in hang and now I’m covered. So great. I’m in the Oak Room if you want to join. Speak to you soon. [Long kissing noise]
You need to address the grammar and syntax in this one it does not entirely make sense. Really try and use your grammar to inflect and direct the voice in performance.
Voicemail: Family Protocol
It’s your mother. Richard has had a heart tremor (?). He is in surgery having his pacemaker checked, just thought you’d like to know. I’m not going to call your father as why should he care but I thought you would want to know. We are in the hospital at the top of the hill, just upstairs from the A&E. Give us a quick text love? Bye.
Think carefully about the purpose of this message, and work out the intention; it is lacking authenticity at the moment.
The Room and the Champagne
We had finished our exams and were starting the new year. We were in my room fooling around as we used to. She had brought over some Champers that She anxious to down but I just wanted a small glass of it to make Her effort seem worthwhile.
She peeled away the film and undid the metal tie. She was so pleased with Herself when the cork popped in Her hand.
She filled a plastic flute, one for me and a large one for Her. I think She loved the lingering sound of the fizz as it rose then settled down. As we drank the juice of the Widow Clicquot, I tumbled slowly into a deep sleep whilst She gave me head. The bottle was empty when I came to, and the room was breezy cold with all the windows flung open like when She would expose Herself on impulse, only She had gone. Her old school blouse hung on the back of the door. Her skirt was still around Her waist.
She was perched out the large window, trying to unscramble the mood but the trees refused to move so She could not tell if it was half or full.
That night She did not sleep with me, that night She sat up in a chair, smoking and writing in the clouds She billowed.
This is brilliant, I really like the feel and content. You do need to think about consistency though, one minute you are saying that she was gone and then she is there; you need to make more sense of the time line and action. I really like this one and think you could even extend it; it has heart and a truthful sense of warmth that underpins it. You just need to work on it a little to draw that out more.
Interview
[All spoken by the same person]
Interviewee Number one, try to describe Her…
She is an angel, a saint, Mother Teresa and Lady Di, Godzilla, Juliet, Tamora and Boudicca, a hound, a jackal, the eyes that Gloucester lost, the wicked fiend, the bloody tyrant, the carnivorous lamb.
How so? How so? She is all these things yet not! Make sense man!
She is Narcissus and Hades; vanity and death.
Imagination and thematic thinking, surely? Come, come, set it all straight!
She is the apple of God and of my eye, a writhing metaphor in a snake pit, a laughing babe in a warm soft crib, bearing her fangs in order to seek approval and loving coos.
So you say She is a problem then?
Nay. She is the all-glorious white light of doom.
Again, I really like the sentiment but I feel that it needs more work on finding its voice and structure. The bits that I have highlighted in blue feel alien with the rest of the text and a bit contrived. I like the references that you have made to historical and literary characters; this is a theme that has come up in my previous development of the work and maybe something that you want to develop within this text. Love it.
Temper
She resides in a hothouse,
Her ghosts and she
But this sauna is where she would rather be.
She drinks glasses of ice and boiling cups of tea,
She exercises rigorously
Yet brushes her teeth.
Yet her ghosts are not temperate to her humid home
So to her displeasure,
They come and go.
It is possible she is reptilian
To some degree,
She has to live in this hothouse
And this hothouse is She.
I really like this; can you develop it to have a context, maybe as part of a diary entry?
Decisions over Breakfast Toast
Love me, hate me, chose between me or the gun.
That is what She would say to me every morning,
Usually over Toast and raspberry jam or butter.
You can tell a lot about a person by their spread;
She liked it smooth, not bitty, no nonsense abut it,
Even if Her words contradicted that idea sometimes.
Just like Her breakfast, She never let anyone touch it or Her love but you wouldn’t hate Her for that yet She never let you have bitterness or curiosity as emotions of choice.
It all boiled down to love, hate, Her or the gun.
I was never certain if I did in fact pick the best option of the three…
Watch out again for consistency; what are you trying to communicate? Give us a little bit more of a context. There are a lot of mixed metaphors and at the moment it feels a bit random and unconnected; you need to find the heart of it and show it to us.
The Beginning of Womanhood?!
At the age of 11 on a field trip, she noticed blood spots in her knickers whilst using the toilet by the ice cream stand. When she emerged, knickers in hand, She had the distinct feeling that She was dying. Then when She noticed how the ice cream man put strawberry sauce on some of the ices, She then thought that perhaps Her stomach had popped and She was leaking strawberry out of Herself and into Her knickers.
No tears stung Her eyes but vomit rushed out of Her mouth as She ensured the rest of her ice was fully regurgitated beside the school bus. That day, She threw away her animal print knickers, and spent the rest of Her time worrying if maybe she would need a cork for whenever she had food, especially come dinner-time. She never said a word about the incident and never touched strawberry ices again until she turned 15 and attended her first Sex Ed class.
Just perfect! I really enjoyed reading this one and I know it will fit with the themes and aesthetic of Siren Song down to a Tee! Can you extend it, maybe make it into a monologue? My only criticism is the Sex Ed at 15, that late? You need to ensure that this is authentic, even in fiction there has to be a heart, truthfulness that underpins and gives us something to make a connection with.
Maker’s Diary: WTF!
I am trying to book space around my performer’s availability but it is proving to be a nightmare! I am not going to rant about the details but just wanted to share my intense frustration!!!
Sunday 23 September 2007
Reflective Practitioner: Much excitement
Two things to discuss really: the first rehearsal and some new writing.
The first rehearsal was a great success and a lot of FUN! Everyone threw themselves into it. Debbie, Phil, Ruth and Andy were the only performer’s who actually showed up but they generated incredible amounts of energy and really seemed to respond to each other. Debbie and Andy are very intuitive, whereas Phil and Ruth like to play for laughs. I am now really looking forward to getting down to devising. I wonder how the dynamic will shift when Felix, Adam and Danielle are added to the mix. Too many maybe?
The student that I have been corresponding with for a while now sent over some new writing for the tape texts that I wanted to share with you:
Voicemail: Forgive?
Hey, hi, how you doing? Um yeah, never thought you’d hear from me again right? You sound really good on your machine, you know, healthy…Well there was another reason I called…Um yeah I owe you…about £120, once I’m outa here and workin’ again, I’ll send it to ya. Still at the same address? Well hope so you know ‘cus well I will come see yah.
[Long Pause]
I still meant what I said the other day, when I was fucked up I treated you like shit but now I’m getting clean so that is all gonna change. Obviously I can’t drink again but I’ll take you for a pint when I’m out just as a, you know, thanks for bein’ a mate sorta…yeah you get the idea…Anyway, just leaving a message and well, I will see you in a few weeks, knock on wood.
Voicemail: Forget.
It’s your mother. That toaster we bought you has been supposedly been recalled because old age pensioners keep getting electrocuted from it. Personally I think it’s silly business but then again what do I know? You still haven’t written to your grandparents yet for their 50th…Just send a care if you’re soooo busy. Nag nag nag. Call you later.
Voicemail: Lost.
Hi, is this where Patrick lives? I’m looking for Patrick Murphy, he’s having a birthday bash tonight and I’ve completely lost directions to his place. I’m driving a white Volvo and I’m going up and down State Street ‘cus I know that is where the party is, just don’t know which house. If you get this message Patrick, run outside and flag me down ok? Ok Patrick? Anyway, love you and sorry for being late. See you soon, buh bye.
Voicemail: Found?
Shit…is it you? Is it really you? My god…you sound so, Jesus, I thought maybe…I thought maybe you would be much older, well…sound much older. Shit I have your voicemail, not a good start. Listen, Caroline gave me your number as she thought it was about time we met as I’m in England for a few days. Wow, I can’t believe it, I just can’t believe that I’m actually inches from meeting you, well that is if you want to. I’m sure it comes as a shock as it did me when I found out I had a cousin…Well I shouldn’t tie up the line. Take care…Call me back?
Voicemail: Cat
Hello there, I’m calling from the Westgate Veterinary Centre to remind you that it is time for your cat’s yearly check up. We advise you to make an appointment with us as soon as you can. You can email us on appointments at Westgate pets, that is all one word, dot com or you can phone us from 8am till 6.30pm on weekdays on 01964-320-320. Thank you.
Voicemail: Invitations
[Heavy breathing for a long while] – Hey, we are going out for drinks tonight you silly bint! Trust you to forget. We’ll be in the Bell and Hammer ok? Love ya, see you soon.
[Next voicemail message, same voice as before but sounds of pub in the background] Where are you? Hun, I left you a message ages ago…Don’t tell me you’re with him right now…Yeesh, ok well we are still in the Bell and Hammer and you know how is trying to come onto Janine. Get your arse down here so we can save her. Ok, love ya, bye.
Voicemail: Possessions
Good morning, this is Ben calling from DIBA to remind you that tomorrow the car insurance policy you have with us will expire and we would advise you to renew it. You can call us back on this number at any time and one of my colleagues will be able to help you. Thank you.
Voicemail: Celebrating?
I’m drunk and I’m in the clear. Ms Mush for Brains finally came to her senses and I’m heading towards a lot of cash. Who says accident help-lines aren’t a pile of shit eh? Ha ha, we did it! Twenty-five grand in hang and now I’m covered. So great. I’m in the Oak Room if you want to join. Speak to you soon. [Long kissing noise]
Voicemail: Family Protocol
It’s your mother. Richard has had a heart tremor. He is in surgery having his pacemaker checked, just thought you’d like to know. I’m not going to call your father as why should he care but I thought you would want to know. We are in the hospital at the top of the hill, just upstairs from the A&E. Give us a quick text love? Bye.
The Room and the Champagne
We had finished our exams and were starting the new year. We were in my room fooling around as we used to. She had brought over some Champers that She anxious to down but I just wanted a small glass of it to make Her effort seem worthwhile.
She peeled away the film and undid the metal tie. She was so pleased with Herself when the cork popped in Her hand.
She filled a plastic flute, one for me and a large one for Her. I think She loved the lingering sound of the fizz as it rose then settled down. As we drank the juice of the Widow Clicquot, I tumbled slowly into a deep sleep whilst She gave me head. The bottle was empty when I came to, and the room was breezy cold with all the windows flung open like when She would expose Herself on impulse, only She had gone. Her old school blouse hung on the back of the door. Her skirt was still around Her waist.
She was perched out the large window, trying to unscramble the mood but the trees refused to move so She could not tell if it was half or full.
That night She did not sleep with me, that night She sat up in a chair, smoking and writing in the clouds She billowed.
Interview
[All spoken by the same person]
Interviewee Number one, try to describe Her…
She is an angel, a saint, Mother Teresa and Lady Di, Godzilla, Juliet, Tamora and Boudicca, a hound, a jackal, the eyes that Gloucester lost, the wicked fiend, the bloody tyrant, the carnivorous lamb.
How so? How so? She is all these things yet not! Make sense man!
She is Narcissus and Hades; vanity and death.
Imagination and thematic thinking, surely? Come, come, set it all straight!
She is the apple of God and of my eye, a writhing metaphor in a snake pit, a laughing babe in a warm soft crib, bearing her fangs in order to seek approval and loving coos.
So you say She is a problem then?
Nay. She is the all-glorious white light of doom.
Temper
She resides in a hothouse,
Her ghosts and she
But this sauna is where she would rather be.
She drinks glasses of ice and boiling cups of tea,
She exercises rigorously
Yet brushes her teeth.
Yet her ghosts are not temperate to her humid home
So to her displeasure,
They come and go.
It is possible she is reptilian
To some degree,
She has to live in this hothouse
And this hothouse is She.
Decisions over Breakfast Toast
Love me, hate me, chose between me or the gun.
That is what She would say to me every morning,
Usually over Toast and raspberry jam or butter.
You can tell a lot about a person by their spread;
She liked it smooth, not bitty, no nonsense abut it,
Even if Her words contradicted that idea sometimes.
Just like Her breakfast, She never let anyone touch it or Her love but you wouldn’t hate Her for that yet She never let you have bitterness or curiosity as emotions of choice.
It all boiled down to love, hate, Her or the gun.
I was never certain if I did in fact pick the best option of the three…
The Beginning of Womanhood?!
At the age of 11 on a field trip, she noticed blood spots in her knickers whilst using the toilet by the ice cream stand. When she emerged, knickers in hand, She had the distinct feeling that She was dying. Then when She noticed how the ice cream man put strawberry sauce on some of the ices, She then thought that perhaps Her stomach had popped and She was leaking strawberry out of Herself and into Her knickers.
No tears stung Her eyes but vomit rushed out of Her mouth as She ensured the rest of her ice was fully regurgitated beside the school bus. That day, She threw away her animal print knickers, and spent the rest of Her time worrying if maybe she would need a cork for whenever she had food, especially come dinner-time. She never said a word about the incident and never touched strawberry ices again until she turned 15 and attended her first Sex Ed class.
The first rehearsal was a great success and a lot of FUN! Everyone threw themselves into it. Debbie, Phil, Ruth and Andy were the only performer’s who actually showed up but they generated incredible amounts of energy and really seemed to respond to each other. Debbie and Andy are very intuitive, whereas Phil and Ruth like to play for laughs. I am now really looking forward to getting down to devising. I wonder how the dynamic will shift when Felix, Adam and Danielle are added to the mix. Too many maybe?
The student that I have been corresponding with for a while now sent over some new writing for the tape texts that I wanted to share with you:
Voicemail: Forgive?
Hey, hi, how you doing? Um yeah, never thought you’d hear from me again right? You sound really good on your machine, you know, healthy…Well there was another reason I called…Um yeah I owe you…about £120, once I’m outa here and workin’ again, I’ll send it to ya. Still at the same address? Well hope so you know ‘cus well I will come see yah.
[Long Pause]
I still meant what I said the other day, when I was fucked up I treated you like shit but now I’m getting clean so that is all gonna change. Obviously I can’t drink again but I’ll take you for a pint when I’m out just as a, you know, thanks for bein’ a mate sorta…yeah you get the idea…Anyway, just leaving a message and well, I will see you in a few weeks, knock on wood.
Voicemail: Forget.
It’s your mother. That toaster we bought you has been supposedly been recalled because old age pensioners keep getting electrocuted from it. Personally I think it’s silly business but then again what do I know? You still haven’t written to your grandparents yet for their 50th…Just send a care if you’re soooo busy. Nag nag nag. Call you later.
Voicemail: Lost.
Hi, is this where Patrick lives? I’m looking for Patrick Murphy, he’s having a birthday bash tonight and I’ve completely lost directions to his place. I’m driving a white Volvo and I’m going up and down State Street ‘cus I know that is where the party is, just don’t know which house. If you get this message Patrick, run outside and flag me down ok? Ok Patrick? Anyway, love you and sorry for being late. See you soon, buh bye.
Voicemail: Found?
Shit…is it you? Is it really you? My god…you sound so, Jesus, I thought maybe…I thought maybe you would be much older, well…sound much older. Shit I have your voicemail, not a good start. Listen, Caroline gave me your number as she thought it was about time we met as I’m in England for a few days. Wow, I can’t believe it, I just can’t believe that I’m actually inches from meeting you, well that is if you want to. I’m sure it comes as a shock as it did me when I found out I had a cousin…Well I shouldn’t tie up the line. Take care…Call me back?
Voicemail: Cat
Hello there, I’m calling from the Westgate Veterinary Centre to remind you that it is time for your cat’s yearly check up. We advise you to make an appointment with us as soon as you can. You can email us on appointments at Westgate pets, that is all one word, dot com or you can phone us from 8am till 6.30pm on weekdays on 01964-320-320. Thank you.
Voicemail: Invitations
[Heavy breathing for a long while] – Hey, we are going out for drinks tonight you silly bint! Trust you to forget. We’ll be in the Bell and Hammer ok? Love ya, see you soon.
[Next voicemail message, same voice as before but sounds of pub in the background] Where are you? Hun, I left you a message ages ago…Don’t tell me you’re with him right now…Yeesh, ok well we are still in the Bell and Hammer and you know how is trying to come onto Janine. Get your arse down here so we can save her. Ok, love ya, bye.
Voicemail: Possessions
Good morning, this is Ben calling from DIBA to remind you that tomorrow the car insurance policy you have with us will expire and we would advise you to renew it. You can call us back on this number at any time and one of my colleagues will be able to help you. Thank you.
Voicemail: Celebrating?
I’m drunk and I’m in the clear. Ms Mush for Brains finally came to her senses and I’m heading towards a lot of cash. Who says accident help-lines aren’t a pile of shit eh? Ha ha, we did it! Twenty-five grand in hang and now I’m covered. So great. I’m in the Oak Room if you want to join. Speak to you soon. [Long kissing noise]
Voicemail: Family Protocol
It’s your mother. Richard has had a heart tremor. He is in surgery having his pacemaker checked, just thought you’d like to know. I’m not going to call your father as why should he care but I thought you would want to know. We are in the hospital at the top of the hill, just upstairs from the A&E. Give us a quick text love? Bye.
The Room and the Champagne
We had finished our exams and were starting the new year. We were in my room fooling around as we used to. She had brought over some Champers that She anxious to down but I just wanted a small glass of it to make Her effort seem worthwhile.
She peeled away the film and undid the metal tie. She was so pleased with Herself when the cork popped in Her hand.
She filled a plastic flute, one for me and a large one for Her. I think She loved the lingering sound of the fizz as it rose then settled down. As we drank the juice of the Widow Clicquot, I tumbled slowly into a deep sleep whilst She gave me head. The bottle was empty when I came to, and the room was breezy cold with all the windows flung open like when She would expose Herself on impulse, only She had gone. Her old school blouse hung on the back of the door. Her skirt was still around Her waist.
She was perched out the large window, trying to unscramble the mood but the trees refused to move so She could not tell if it was half or full.
That night She did not sleep with me, that night She sat up in a chair, smoking and writing in the clouds She billowed.
Interview
[All spoken by the same person]
Interviewee Number one, try to describe Her…
She is an angel, a saint, Mother Teresa and Lady Di, Godzilla, Juliet, Tamora and Boudicca, a hound, a jackal, the eyes that Gloucester lost, the wicked fiend, the bloody tyrant, the carnivorous lamb.
How so? How so? She is all these things yet not! Make sense man!
She is Narcissus and Hades; vanity and death.
Imagination and thematic thinking, surely? Come, come, set it all straight!
She is the apple of God and of my eye, a writhing metaphor in a snake pit, a laughing babe in a warm soft crib, bearing her fangs in order to seek approval and loving coos.
So you say She is a problem then?
Nay. She is the all-glorious white light of doom.
Temper
She resides in a hothouse,
Her ghosts and she
But this sauna is where she would rather be.
She drinks glasses of ice and boiling cups of tea,
She exercises rigorously
Yet brushes her teeth.
Yet her ghosts are not temperate to her humid home
So to her displeasure,
They come and go.
It is possible she is reptilian
To some degree,
She has to live in this hothouse
And this hothouse is She.
Decisions over Breakfast Toast
Love me, hate me, chose between me or the gun.
That is what She would say to me every morning,
Usually over Toast and raspberry jam or butter.
You can tell a lot about a person by their spread;
She liked it smooth, not bitty, no nonsense abut it,
Even if Her words contradicted that idea sometimes.
Just like Her breakfast, She never let anyone touch it or Her love but you wouldn’t hate Her for that yet She never let you have bitterness or curiosity as emotions of choice.
It all boiled down to love, hate, Her or the gun.
I was never certain if I did in fact pick the best option of the three…
The Beginning of Womanhood?!
At the age of 11 on a field trip, she noticed blood spots in her knickers whilst using the toilet by the ice cream stand. When she emerged, knickers in hand, She had the distinct feeling that She was dying. Then when She noticed how the ice cream man put strawberry sauce on some of the ices, She then thought that perhaps Her stomach had popped and She was leaking strawberry out of Herself and into Her knickers.
No tears stung Her eyes but vomit rushed out of Her mouth as She ensured the rest of her ice was fully regurgitated beside the school bus. That day, She threw away her animal print knickers, and spent the rest of Her time worrying if maybe she would need a cork for whenever she had food, especially come dinner-time. She never said a word about the incident and never touched strawberry ices again until she turned 15 and attended her first Sex Ed class.
Thursday 20 September 2007
Reflective Practitioner: Meetings & Hope
I had a meeting with Olu today and he has asked me to prepare a lead lecture for current debates focusing on reception theory. He will place it in the module structure so that it directly follows the performance. I will have to start working on that asap.
Wednesday 19 September 2007
Maker’s Diary: Familiar Frustrations
Ok, I have had to cancel the first rehearsal because more of the performers can’t make it. I am going to try for Fri 21st Sept 8-11pm. I have e-mailed all and asked them to confirm this. I have also optimistically booked space for that…..fingers crossed.
Maker’s Diary: Planning
One of the performer’s is not going to be able to make the first rehearsal nhow which is disappointing but we will have to just go ahead and do it without them this time.
Tuesday 18 September 2007
Reflective Practitioner: Inspiring Conditions of Play
I do not want to launch straight into my usual Siren Song tasks/games/play in the first session because I want to simply get a feel for the group and let them get a feel for each other…..I just want them to play a little. Once we find a group dynamic I will introduce more focused exercises. I already know lots of games that can be used for initiating devising but I have done some research to source some more here are my initial thoughts on those:
“The Grid”
This involves skills of group awareness and discipline, concentration, and trust. An area is marked out for the group to move in, in as simple neutral way as possible (eyes front, head up, no arms swinging), walking in straight lines and at right angles (ninety degrees), changing direction whenever they encounter another person travelling towards them. Someone outside the group claps to indicate that everyone should stop. This is developed so that the group can stop and start without help.
(sourced from Devising Theatre: A Practical and Theoretical Handbook
By Alison Oddey Pg 173)
I think that this exercise will be really useful for getting the group to concentrate and learn to become a team, develop being able to read and respond to each other.
A Boal exercise:
One person holds up the palm of their hand and the other person puts their nose really close to the palm. The palm leads the nose around the space. This can be done in pairs but also in 3’s with one person leading two noses. You can swap after a certain amount of time, so that everyone has the opportunity to lead.
This will involve trust and concentration, which is always useful in trying to develop a group dynamic.
Another Boal exercise- In pairs. One touches the other and at the point of contact shakes-you can also introduce melodic sound.
This exercise is useful for exploring reaction. If the performers are going to engage the audience in play then they will have to learn to respond and react to the situations that arise without self-conscious restrictions. I think that this exercise will help to develop their confidence with that requirement.
Ernst Fischer exercise- As a group. The leader calls out an emotion by saying ‘do it for love (or any other emotion). Once this has been called one person must step forward and begin to make two repetitive movements accompanied by two sounds. The rest of the group must do the same but have to fit around the first performer to create a machine. By the end of the exercise the whole group should be functioning as a single ‘love’ machine.
Again, I think that this exercise is really useful for working as a whole and for concentration.
“The Grid”
This involves skills of group awareness and discipline, concentration, and trust. An area is marked out for the group to move in, in as simple neutral way as possible (eyes front, head up, no arms swinging), walking in straight lines and at right angles (ninety degrees), changing direction whenever they encounter another person travelling towards them. Someone outside the group claps to indicate that everyone should stop. This is developed so that the group can stop and start without help.
(sourced from Devising Theatre: A Practical and Theoretical Handbook
By Alison Oddey Pg 173)
I think that this exercise will be really useful for getting the group to concentrate and learn to become a team, develop being able to read and respond to each other.
A Boal exercise:
One person holds up the palm of their hand and the other person puts their nose really close to the palm. The palm leads the nose around the space. This can be done in pairs but also in 3’s with one person leading two noses. You can swap after a certain amount of time, so that everyone has the opportunity to lead.
This will involve trust and concentration, which is always useful in trying to develop a group dynamic.
Another Boal exercise- In pairs. One touches the other and at the point of contact shakes-you can also introduce melodic sound.
This exercise is useful for exploring reaction. If the performers are going to engage the audience in play then they will have to learn to respond and react to the situations that arise without self-conscious restrictions. I think that this exercise will help to develop their confidence with that requirement.
Ernst Fischer exercise- As a group. The leader calls out an emotion by saying ‘do it for love (or any other emotion). Once this has been called one person must step forward and begin to make two repetitive movements accompanied by two sounds. The rest of the group must do the same but have to fit around the first performer to create a machine. By the end of the exercise the whole group should be functioning as a single ‘love’ machine.
Again, I think that this exercise is really useful for working as a whole and for concentration.
Maker’s Diary: Rehearsal process and plans
We are going to have (as usual) a fairly limited amount of time to get this performance off the ground, so I have been considering the best ways to fully maximise our time and resources. We will effectively have 3 weeks to get things done, so I have broken that down into weekly objectives:
Week One- purely devising. Our objective is to generate ideas for more games/structures and to generate material for the speeches.
Week Two- Continued devising and tape work. We will rehearse and record all of the tape texts and develop performance persona.
Week Three-Fixing/Rehearsing. We will fix all of the structural elements of the performance and rehearse those scenarios.
Tomorrow I am going to plan some launching exercises for devising and prepare a more detailed schedule of work. This time I want to share my research objectives fully with the performers- I am hoping that this will keep things moving in the right direction and focused more tightly on the task at hand. This is my last chance to create the opportunity to gain insights into ‘participative’ performance from inception to reception.
Week One- purely devising. Our objective is to generate ideas for more games/structures and to generate material for the speeches.
Week Two- Continued devising and tape work. We will rehearse and record all of the tape texts and develop performance persona.
Week Three-Fixing/Rehearsing. We will fix all of the structural elements of the performance and rehearse those scenarios.
Tomorrow I am going to plan some launching exercises for devising and prepare a more detailed schedule of work. This time I want to share my research objectives fully with the performers- I am hoping that this will keep things moving in the right direction and focused more tightly on the task at hand. This is my last chance to create the opportunity to gain insights into ‘participative’ performance from inception to reception.
Monday 17 September 2007
Maker’s Diary: Success!
I have finally managed ti juggle time and space, so that a rehearsal is now possible. I have booked the Sports hall Room 1 from 2pm – 6pm on Thurs 20th Sept. I have e-mailed all of the performer’s with the details and am just waiting for their final confirmation. I am so excited; I can’t wait to get back into the studio and start to develop the new concepts and insights. A huge potential cast this time too….very very exciting indeed.
I have also been offered even more VL work by Rob…woohoo…good times!
I have also been offered even more VL work by Rob…woohoo…good times!
Saturday 15 September 2007
Maker’s Diary: The More the Merrier
I had two e-mails from two more students today who might be interested in performing-Andy & Danielle…..just trying to find out their availability now too. It is proving to be VERY awkward to co-ordinate all people in the same space at the same time but I am determined to do it.
Friday 14 September 2007
Reflective Practitioner: Confirmed Case Studies
Good news! Both Breatheartists and The Little Dove Theatre are happy to be used as case studies and are going to participate in correspondence interviews! I am just over the moon-‘ave it! I have now mailed them the questionnaires and an really looking forward to their responses.
On a slightly different note I am still phaffing about trying to pin down a space and suitable time for a 1st rehearsal. We really do need to get a wriggle on as time is slipping away…again!
On a slightly different note I am still phaffing about trying to pin down a space and suitable time for a 1st rehearsal. We really do need to get a wriggle on as time is slipping away…again!
Wednesday 12 September 2007
Maker’s Diary: Space & Organisation
I am in the process of trying to organise a first rehearsal with the performers that have expressed an interest thus far. As ever, it is difficult to try and co-ordinate times and spaces to suit all of those involved. The performers who are interested so far are: Phil, Ruth, Dan, Adam, Felix and Debbie. This should actually be plenty of peeps to marshal the games etc…ooohhh! It is so exciting.
Tuesday 11 September 2007
Maker’s diary: New Writing
There has been some to-ing and fro-ing between the student I mentioned previously and myself; although she does not wish to perform, she really wants to offer some writing for the performance. I have sent her a writing brief and am really looking forward to reading what she produces for me. Here is the brief (I have also posted this on facebook and the portal):
Writing Brief for Siren Song
I will need extracts of text and dialogue for performance. It will be recorded by performers onto audio tapes and used as part of a game in the show. The text/dialogue needs to be between 1-6 minutes long. It can be a conversation, a phone message, a monologue, a diary extract, pretty much anything but it must be about SHE/HER. You must remember that SHE/HER is not a single character or fixed persona. I would suggest that you perhaps take a look at Martin Crimps Attempts on Her Life and Sarah Kane’s Crave as examples of the style of writing that I am looking for.
Writing Brief for Siren Song
I will need extracts of text and dialogue for performance. It will be recorded by performers onto audio tapes and used as part of a game in the show. The text/dialogue needs to be between 1-6 minutes long. It can be a conversation, a phone message, a monologue, a diary extract, pretty much anything but it must be about SHE/HER. You must remember that SHE/HER is not a single character or fixed persona. I would suggest that you perhaps take a look at Martin Crimps Attempts on Her Life and Sarah Kane’s Crave as examples of the style of writing that I am looking for.
Monday 10 September 2007
Maker’s Diary: A Considered Response
I have taken the time to consider my response to the student’s e-mail, so here is what I wrote back to her today:
Thank you for your e-mail. I really appreciate your comments and feedback; however, I am fairly confident that I know what I am doing with my project. I have been a performance practitioner for over 5 years now, running my own performance group: Vertical Exchange. As well as being involved in contemporary performance as a practitioner, I am also a theatre scholar; Siren Song is part of a year long, ongoing project that makes up the PaR section of my PhD research. (In fact this will be the 3rd development stage of the work; it has already been performed in Winchester and at Camden People's Theatre in London). Your response to my e-mail, suggests that you have misunderstood/misinterpreted the underlying principles of the project, so I wanted to take a little time just to clarify and theoretically contextualize my work for you, then if you still feel that you are interested, I would be more than happy for you to be involved in the project.
As I mentioned, Siren Song is part of my PhD thesis, which is entitled: Participatory Theatre: (Re) defining the role of the theatrical spectatorship. My research project seeks to investigate the production and reception of specific participatory theatre events through the actual experience of the makers and audiences. I am primarily concerned with the phenomenology of particular participatory events and the role that is taken up by the actual, material audiences in attendance. I am looking to conceptualise and theorise those actual experiences through applied cognitive materialism in order to develop a localised and specific theory of production and reception.
Your observation that the project is 'quite unusual', is an astute one. The objective of a PhD is to contribute original new knowledge to an existing field of scholarly research. The AHRC’s definition of PhD research is built around a frame of three key features that constitute and outline what may be classified as rigorous research:
• it must define a series of research questions or problems that will be addressed in the course of the research. It must also define its objectives in terms of seeking to enhance knowledge and understanding relating to the questions or problems to be addressed
• it must specify a research context for the questions or problems to be addressed. You must specify why it is important that these particular questions or problems should be addressed; what other research is being or has been conducted in this area; and what particular contribution this project will make to the advancement of creativity, insights, knowledge and understanding in this area
• it must specify the research methods for addressing and answering the research questions or problems. You must state how, in the course of the research project, you will seek to answer the questions, or advance available knowledge and understanding of the problems. You should also explain the rationale for your chosen research methods and why you think they provide the most appropriate means by which to answer the research questions.
(AHRC 2005)
The aim of this piece of work is to develop and identify strategies and devices of performance practice, that enable the audience to take up the same role ad the ‘makers’ and ‘performers’ (a role which I have coined as the ‘creatorly participant’). This means that I am pioneering a new and experimental form of participatory practice; hence the reason you may have found the concept ‘perplexing’ or alien. Forging into new and un-chartered territory is always an ambiguous and risky activity. (As I will go on to explain, risk is a vital concept and a key factor that underpins the project).
With Siren Song, I aim to bring together a group of performers and an audience in a particular ‘space’ (the party), at a particular ‘time’ (for 6 hours on the 22nd Oct), then through a pre-determined structure of games and tasks, the performers and audience will work together to produce a postdramatic performance text. The whole point of the performance is that by playing certain games and undertaking specific tasks both the performers and audience generate a unique (to that particular event), polyphonic, multiplicitieous, performative manifestation of HER/SHE. That performative manifestation of HER/SHE will not be a fixed, fictional ‘character’ but instead will be a set of possibilities, a plethora of ‘could’, ‘should’, ‘has’, ‘is’ an ‘will be’, HER/SHE’s. Thus HER/SHE will manifest in performance as a multi-dimensional presence; a presence that will be unique and personal for each and every person present, audience and performer alike. There is no conclusion, no cohesive whole or even an end to the work; potentially it could go for an eternity, dynamic, fluid and forever shifting. This dynamic repetition is a widely recognised device within contemporary practice. The element of the ‘unknown’ and the repetition push the boundaries of performance and make the event an actual experience, something that has to be lived through, not simply watched or witnessed; the audience become integral to the event. There is no event without the audience’s participation. Both audience and performer take an equal amount of risk during the 6 hour event. Risk and investment are the core ingredients for the success of the event.
I am sure that you can now understand why nothing except the games, tasks and space can be fixed before the event itself. I have no idea what will happen during the event itself and that is really the point. This type of practice does not have the opportunity to become stale or stayed in the way that you expressed concern about. We will only be preparing for the event, not rehearsing in a traditional sense. The process will be designed to generate material and I do not want to fix too much before that journey begins, as this would betray the practice that I am adopting for the making of Siren Song. I want the performers to be involved at the very heart of the creative process. It’s scary but really fun and exciting at the same time.
My practice sits firmly within an established body of work and has developed out of a 20 year trend for a particular brand of devising. I was surprised that you did not seem to be aware of such practices. (I would suggest that perhaps you have a quick look at the work of groups such as Forced Entertainment, Uninvited Guests, Blast Theory, Lone Twin, Imitating the Dog, Goat Island, The Wooster Group, Punch Drunk, Stan’s Café, Reckless Sleepers and The Little Dove Theatre Company). If you want to look at some of the criticism and theory that surrounds these practices and to some extent helps to understand my own, you might want to look at the writings of Auslander, Zarilli, Kaye, Kershaw, Fuchs and Etchells; all of which chart and explain where my work sits in relation to other practice and how it has developed from the practices of other makers, like the ones listed above.
The games and tasks will generate new material each time they are played or undertaken, thus I am not concerned about ‘monotony’ setting in. The audience will be free to come and go as they please, different people will be in the space at different times; so despite games being repeated, I very much doubt that they will elicit the same response for the many possible combinations of players at any one time. The games will be repeated but I suspect that they will create a totally different experience each time. It is repetition and games that will replace the traditional dialect of orthodox drama, these devices will take up the slack within the postdramatic situation, creating the tension, structure and pace.
I can understand how a lack of details might make you feel nervous or as if I am unsure as to what I am doing with the project, I anticipated that because of my previous two experiences of working with undergrad students on this project in the previous stages. I can assure you that I am completely in control and the whole process is underpinned by sound epistemological and ontological considerations as well as being marshalled by a rigorous research methodology. It is experimental practice that is breaking new ground and new ground always feels a little precarious.
The process will be a journey, one which continues on into the event itself. I am an experienced practitioner and have worked with performers on many similar projects. I have a whole ‘toolkit’ of strategies and practical devices that we will be applying in the devising process in order to develop and shape the work. I will be leading and guiding through actual material methods for the whole journey; you will not just be thrown in at the deep end. It is my responsibility to enable you, the performers to develop in the appropriate manner. It is a responsibility that I approach with respect and professionalism. My role will be more of a creative facilitator than that of a director. I don’t know if you have come across the term ‘creative performer’, but that is the role that I will be facilitating you to adopt.
Alison Oddey. Devising Theatre: A Practical and Theoretical Handbook, London: Routledge, 1994.
Deirdre Heddon & Jane Milling. Devising Performance: A Critical History,
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
Emma Govan, Helen Nicholson and Katie Normington. Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices, London & New York: Routledge 2007.
All of these are great books for talking about this type of process.
I really hope that this helps to clarify the project a little bit better for you. If you have any further questions or if you want to meet up for a chat, then I will be more than happy to oblige. I am in the process of trying to find out everyone’s availability, so that I can organise and intro session before we get down to it. We do not have a great deal of time to get this project running, so I am eager to get things moving as soon as. I am still a little short on females, so if you know any other students who might be interested then I would really appreciate you passing on the details.
Thank you for your e-mail. I really appreciate your comments and feedback; however, I am fairly confident that I know what I am doing with my project. I have been a performance practitioner for over 5 years now, running my own performance group: Vertical Exchange. As well as being involved in contemporary performance as a practitioner, I am also a theatre scholar; Siren Song is part of a year long, ongoing project that makes up the PaR section of my PhD research. (In fact this will be the 3rd development stage of the work; it has already been performed in Winchester and at Camden People's Theatre in London). Your response to my e-mail, suggests that you have misunderstood/misinterpreted the underlying principles of the project, so I wanted to take a little time just to clarify and theoretically contextualize my work for you, then if you still feel that you are interested, I would be more than happy for you to be involved in the project.
As I mentioned, Siren Song is part of my PhD thesis, which is entitled: Participatory Theatre: (Re) defining the role of the theatrical spectatorship. My research project seeks to investigate the production and reception of specific participatory theatre events through the actual experience of the makers and audiences. I am primarily concerned with the phenomenology of particular participatory events and the role that is taken up by the actual, material audiences in attendance. I am looking to conceptualise and theorise those actual experiences through applied cognitive materialism in order to develop a localised and specific theory of production and reception.
Your observation that the project is 'quite unusual', is an astute one. The objective of a PhD is to contribute original new knowledge to an existing field of scholarly research. The AHRC’s definition of PhD research is built around a frame of three key features that constitute and outline what may be classified as rigorous research:
• it must define a series of research questions or problems that will be addressed in the course of the research. It must also define its objectives in terms of seeking to enhance knowledge and understanding relating to the questions or problems to be addressed
• it must specify a research context for the questions or problems to be addressed. You must specify why it is important that these particular questions or problems should be addressed; what other research is being or has been conducted in this area; and what particular contribution this project will make to the advancement of creativity, insights, knowledge and understanding in this area
• it must specify the research methods for addressing and answering the research questions or problems. You must state how, in the course of the research project, you will seek to answer the questions, or advance available knowledge and understanding of the problems. You should also explain the rationale for your chosen research methods and why you think they provide the most appropriate means by which to answer the research questions.
(AHRC 2005)
The aim of this piece of work is to develop and identify strategies and devices of performance practice, that enable the audience to take up the same role ad the ‘makers’ and ‘performers’ (a role which I have coined as the ‘creatorly participant’). This means that I am pioneering a new and experimental form of participatory practice; hence the reason you may have found the concept ‘perplexing’ or alien. Forging into new and un-chartered territory is always an ambiguous and risky activity. (As I will go on to explain, risk is a vital concept and a key factor that underpins the project).
With Siren Song, I aim to bring together a group of performers and an audience in a particular ‘space’ (the party), at a particular ‘time’ (for 6 hours on the 22nd Oct), then through a pre-determined structure of games and tasks, the performers and audience will work together to produce a postdramatic performance text. The whole point of the performance is that by playing certain games and undertaking specific tasks both the performers and audience generate a unique (to that particular event), polyphonic, multiplicitieous, performative manifestation of HER/SHE. That performative manifestation of HER/SHE will not be a fixed, fictional ‘character’ but instead will be a set of possibilities, a plethora of ‘could’, ‘should’, ‘has’, ‘is’ an ‘will be’, HER/SHE’s. Thus HER/SHE will manifest in performance as a multi-dimensional presence; a presence that will be unique and personal for each and every person present, audience and performer alike. There is no conclusion, no cohesive whole or even an end to the work; potentially it could go for an eternity, dynamic, fluid and forever shifting. This dynamic repetition is a widely recognised device within contemporary practice. The element of the ‘unknown’ and the repetition push the boundaries of performance and make the event an actual experience, something that has to be lived through, not simply watched or witnessed; the audience become integral to the event. There is no event without the audience’s participation. Both audience and performer take an equal amount of risk during the 6 hour event. Risk and investment are the core ingredients for the success of the event.
I am sure that you can now understand why nothing except the games, tasks and space can be fixed before the event itself. I have no idea what will happen during the event itself and that is really the point. This type of practice does not have the opportunity to become stale or stayed in the way that you expressed concern about. We will only be preparing for the event, not rehearsing in a traditional sense. The process will be designed to generate material and I do not want to fix too much before that journey begins, as this would betray the practice that I am adopting for the making of Siren Song. I want the performers to be involved at the very heart of the creative process. It’s scary but really fun and exciting at the same time.
My practice sits firmly within an established body of work and has developed out of a 20 year trend for a particular brand of devising. I was surprised that you did not seem to be aware of such practices. (I would suggest that perhaps you have a quick look at the work of groups such as Forced Entertainment, Uninvited Guests, Blast Theory, Lone Twin, Imitating the Dog, Goat Island, The Wooster Group, Punch Drunk, Stan’s Café, Reckless Sleepers and The Little Dove Theatre Company). If you want to look at some of the criticism and theory that surrounds these practices and to some extent helps to understand my own, you might want to look at the writings of Auslander, Zarilli, Kaye, Kershaw, Fuchs and Etchells; all of which chart and explain where my work sits in relation to other practice and how it has developed from the practices of other makers, like the ones listed above.
The games and tasks will generate new material each time they are played or undertaken, thus I am not concerned about ‘monotony’ setting in. The audience will be free to come and go as they please, different people will be in the space at different times; so despite games being repeated, I very much doubt that they will elicit the same response for the many possible combinations of players at any one time. The games will be repeated but I suspect that they will create a totally different experience each time. It is repetition and games that will replace the traditional dialect of orthodox drama, these devices will take up the slack within the postdramatic situation, creating the tension, structure and pace.
I can understand how a lack of details might make you feel nervous or as if I am unsure as to what I am doing with the project, I anticipated that because of my previous two experiences of working with undergrad students on this project in the previous stages. I can assure you that I am completely in control and the whole process is underpinned by sound epistemological and ontological considerations as well as being marshalled by a rigorous research methodology. It is experimental practice that is breaking new ground and new ground always feels a little precarious.
The process will be a journey, one which continues on into the event itself. I am an experienced practitioner and have worked with performers on many similar projects. I have a whole ‘toolkit’ of strategies and practical devices that we will be applying in the devising process in order to develop and shape the work. I will be leading and guiding through actual material methods for the whole journey; you will not just be thrown in at the deep end. It is my responsibility to enable you, the performers to develop in the appropriate manner. It is a responsibility that I approach with respect and professionalism. My role will be more of a creative facilitator than that of a director. I don’t know if you have come across the term ‘creative performer’, but that is the role that I will be facilitating you to adopt.
Alison Oddey. Devising Theatre: A Practical and Theoretical Handbook, London: Routledge, 1994.
Deirdre Heddon & Jane Milling. Devising Performance: A Critical History,
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
Emma Govan, Helen Nicholson and Katie Normington. Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices, London & New York: Routledge 2007.
All of these are great books for talking about this type of process.
I really hope that this helps to clarify the project a little bit better for you. If you have any further questions or if you want to meet up for a chat, then I will be more than happy to oblige. I am in the process of trying to find out everyone’s availability, so that I can organise and intro session before we get down to it. We do not have a great deal of time to get this project running, so I am eager to get things moving as soon as. I am still a little short on females, so if you know any other students who might be interested then I would really appreciate you passing on the details.
Friday 7 September 2007
Reflective Practitioner: Defensive?
I had a slightly offensive e-mail today from an interested student. When I first read it I felt hurt and indignant but on reflection have found it to be quite challenging. I wanted to share the e-mail with you in case anyone else wanted to offer up some thoughts on it:
Hi Joanna,
This project is quite unusual and the vagueness of the character who captures the main focus whilst not being physically present really allows for a massive amount of development of Her and those at Her party. However, I do not want to sound critical but the vagueness could lead to confusion on the part of the performers as they develop this project and its aspects, unless you want that to happen, which probably will. I'm not entirely sure if you want to be ambiguous with everyone about who She is and Her qualities but in order for this project to progress and develop into something at least slightly understandable, digestible to the minds of everyone or some of those involved, and to have a direction (not necessarily a set direction but one that will eventually lead to an end product, conclusion or some form of finality), you may perhaps want to give the wording a little more thought. I mean it is your idea and project, and if you aim to have everyone in the dark or slightly in the dark then by all means keep doing what you are doing.
Also, as I understand it, you want to achieve a final result, a pieced together puzzle that is a picture of Her, perhaps a different picture puzzle each time with different pieces. I know that if done in practise it would make more sense to me I'm sure yet if indeed you wish to create three possibly different images of Her, yourself and the performers would have to come up with entirely new things each time in order to keep it fresh, unless that is not your intent. What I'm trying to say is, in order to keep the project from appearing a tad stale and/or over rehearsed and monotonous, completely new aspects should be introduced each time or different things thrown in to not make the performance seem like six hours of the same performance put on three times, unless that is your intention.
Please do not misunderstand that I do not like your idea, it's very original and different, it reminds me of Beckett's 'Play', Sarah Kane's '4.48 Psychosis' as well as some of Pinter's works. What I am not clear on is where you want to go with it? What details and aspects will be provided to enable an image or Her to be created unless only the speeches, objects, questions, contents of the tapes, etc are to be the only things provided and it is purely left up to the performers and audience to form a picture and get to know Her in their own way? Please do not take what I've said the wrong way, I certainly would not like to lecture and instruct you on how you should conduct your work but I always feel it does not hurt to get feedback from different sources as after all, not everyone could comprehend your creation the same way as no one thinks alike. I'm sure that once things are put into practise that everything will become clearer and smoother to think about. Please don't think I’m trying to knock you down, it's just the lack of details that have been given that makes the project a tad perplexing to comprehend but I would love to be involved in any way I can. Please do not hesitate to contact me further and I look forward to hearing from you.
I am going to take a little time to consider my response but I think that in terms of my research and development I need to think of it as an opportunity to reflect upon my concept and sharpen up my theorisation of it too. I know that I am easily offended creatively-it is because when you push at the edges you always get resistance and aggression….you get so used to defending ‘reactions’ to the work that you have to remember not to just strike back but to try and be understanding and make a considered response. It is hard though when the work is so much a part of you….it can’t help but be personal.
I am going to my folks for a few days to discuss dresses with my wonderful seamstress Mother and to consult my props shed! I won’t be back until Monday morning and will have no access while I am there.
Hi Joanna,
This project is quite unusual and the vagueness of the character who captures the main focus whilst not being physically present really allows for a massive amount of development of Her and those at Her party. However, I do not want to sound critical but the vagueness could lead to confusion on the part of the performers as they develop this project and its aspects, unless you want that to happen, which probably will. I'm not entirely sure if you want to be ambiguous with everyone about who She is and Her qualities but in order for this project to progress and develop into something at least slightly understandable, digestible to the minds of everyone or some of those involved, and to have a direction (not necessarily a set direction but one that will eventually lead to an end product, conclusion or some form of finality), you may perhaps want to give the wording a little more thought. I mean it is your idea and project, and if you aim to have everyone in the dark or slightly in the dark then by all means keep doing what you are doing.
Also, as I understand it, you want to achieve a final result, a pieced together puzzle that is a picture of Her, perhaps a different picture puzzle each time with different pieces. I know that if done in practise it would make more sense to me I'm sure yet if indeed you wish to create three possibly different images of Her, yourself and the performers would have to come up with entirely new things each time in order to keep it fresh, unless that is not your intent. What I'm trying to say is, in order to keep the project from appearing a tad stale and/or over rehearsed and monotonous, completely new aspects should be introduced each time or different things thrown in to not make the performance seem like six hours of the same performance put on three times, unless that is your intention.
Please do not misunderstand that I do not like your idea, it's very original and different, it reminds me of Beckett's 'Play', Sarah Kane's '4.48 Psychosis' as well as some of Pinter's works. What I am not clear on is where you want to go with it? What details and aspects will be provided to enable an image or Her to be created unless only the speeches, objects, questions, contents of the tapes, etc are to be the only things provided and it is purely left up to the performers and audience to form a picture and get to know Her in their own way? Please do not take what I've said the wrong way, I certainly would not like to lecture and instruct you on how you should conduct your work but I always feel it does not hurt to get feedback from different sources as after all, not everyone could comprehend your creation the same way as no one thinks alike. I'm sure that once things are put into practise that everything will become clearer and smoother to think about. Please don't think I’m trying to knock you down, it's just the lack of details that have been given that makes the project a tad perplexing to comprehend but I would love to be involved in any way I can. Please do not hesitate to contact me further and I look forward to hearing from you.
I am going to take a little time to consider my response but I think that in terms of my research and development I need to think of it as an opportunity to reflect upon my concept and sharpen up my theorisation of it too. I know that I am easily offended creatively-it is because when you push at the edges you always get resistance and aggression….you get so used to defending ‘reactions’ to the work that you have to remember not to just strike back but to try and be understanding and make a considered response. It is hard though when the work is so much a part of you….it can’t help but be personal.
I am going to my folks for a few days to discuss dresses with my wonderful seamstress Mother and to consult my props shed! I won’t be back until Monday morning and will have no access while I am there.
Reflective Participant: Case Studies
I have e-mailed Little Dove Theatre and Breatheartists today to see if they are happy for me to use them as Case Studies and to see if they are willing to answer some questions in a correspondence interview.
Thursday 6 September 2007
Maker’s Diary: More Interest
Had more interested performers today, which is great, I have e-mailed all of them some details. This is what I have sent out:
SIREN SONG-Re Worked
Premise
It is HER party; hats, food and drink but SHE never appears. The performers will play games and give speeches endlessly for 6 hours, like they are stuck in a time warp, destined to repeat them selves over and over but with nothing ever being the same twice. Through, games, tasks and repetition, the audience and performers will work together to piece together HER, to generate the missing SHE; endless possibilities will play out and be generated over a 6 hour period. Who is She, What is your relationship with HER?
Outline
This will be a durational piece of work that will last approx 6 hours. The audience will be able to come and go as they please, moving freely through the space. There will also be a diary booth that the performers will take individual audience members into throughout in order to record their thoughts about their experience.
The work will consist of 2 overriding structures that will marshal the activity of both the performers and the audience. The structure will last for approx 2 hours and will be repeated 3 times.
Much of this will be developed through a devising process, so it is difficult to be particularly specific at this stage about the structures that will marshal this work.
There will be two main things going on: Speeches and Games. I am hoping that there will be many speeches and 3 games. I have already decided on two games but everything else will have to be discovered through the devising process.
The games that I have already taking a liking too are: pass the parcel and truth or tape.
Pass the Parcel- There will be objects hidden in each layer, things such as keys, etc. Each object will have a little tag attached with a question on it asking the winner to tell us something about how the object relates to her. So for example they key might have a tag that says ‘tell us about when she gave this back to him’ and the winner of that layer will have to do exactly that!
Truth or Tape- this is just like truth or dare, in stead of a dare the participants of the game will be able to pull a tape out of a bag and play it. The tapes will have many different things on them, all about HER life or taken from her life. So it could be a phone message, a piece of dialogue etc. If they choose truth then they will have to tell us something about her.
Process
These are the things that we will need to achieve or generate during the process:
-To generate new game that will create material about HER.
-To generate more speeches (see the attached document for an example of what we are going to create)
-To generate material for the tapes.
-To generate an overriding rule/game/task that marshals all of our activity.
These are the things that the performers will need to think about:
-their relationship to HER and the other performers/their performance presence.
-their relationship to the audience in performance and in the booth.
-generating a process diary/blog
Time Scale
The performance will be on the 22nd October 07 in the Arts centre.
Rehearsals will start towards the end of September and will be scheduled according to performer’s availability. I am also working on getting us a showing outside of the university either in Bristol or in the Railway, Winchester.
The attached speech was as follows:
SHE: The woman wears Vivienne Westwood's Boudoir perfume for the night time and Chloe Narcissus for during the day.
The woman has long nails, real ones and often paints them black.
She loves Midnight Cowboy.
She likes things to have a place, a home.
She likes to make lists but never sticks to them.
She uses a fountain pen to do all her personal correspondence.
She keeps everything anyone ever gave her.
She keeps her dreams on her sleeve right next to her heart.
She writes magical fantasy stories for her nephews about cats, faerie and goblins.
She has to keep a diary diligently because she is so forgetful.
She has hundreds of shoes but only ever wears 2 pairs.
She has small fingers and all her rings are just slightly too big.
She values honesty and loyalty in her friends
She hates to stay in one place for too long.
She smokes long cigarettes but when she’s out she smokes black ones.
She always has a pen and note book in her bag incase inspiration hits.
When she is alone at home she likes to sing to 80's hair rock at the top of voice.
She hardly ever cries.
She collects things.
She can't sleep.
She loves strawberries with black pepper.
She spoils her kitten too much.
She misses the sea.
She's brave and ferocious.
She is very disciplined and makes herself do things that she does not want to do.
She always sees the bigger picture but is fascinated by the details.
She sometimes forgets to laugh.
She makes mistakes but knows that is okay.
She always talks too much.
She laughs when her brother burps her name.
She wears her heart on her sleeve right next to her dreams.
She always falls hard.
She’s never wrong.
She eats pizza with a knife and fork.
She can keep a secret.
She cries when she listens to her favorite sad songs.
She loves spring.
She sometimes lets the phone ring and ring without picking it up.
She’s never late.
She loves to feel heavy rain on her naked skin.
She gets turned on by the stink of her man.
She often feels alone.
She always checks the handle twice to make sure that the door is really locked.
She has hundreds of pairs of shoes but only ever wears the same two pairs.
She has a broken heart.
She is scared of the dark.
She takes a gleeful delight in the sight of her own blood.
She hardly ever cries.
She wishes she was an only child.
She knows that just because you have his cock in your mouth does not necessarily mean that you have his heart.
She collects things.
She never throws anything out.
She always weeps on her birthday.
She often wishes that she could just vanish.
She is selfish.
She appreciates Jazz and has an affection for the pre-Raphaelite masters.
She has to suck ice lollies because biting them makes her whole body shudder.
She is powerless when he takes up his words; the special ones that he knows make her weak.
She thinks in the dark.
She keeps her memories in a heart shaped box, deep inside her chest.
The smell of Malibu makes her vomit.
She likes things to have a place, a home.
She picks at her feet.
She always misplaces her keys.
She likes to make lists but never sticks to them.
She knows he knows how to tame her too well.
She has a fondness for old things.
She needs to be held tightly.
She makes mistakes but knows that it is okay.
She loves without restraint.
She misses the sea.
She doesn’t have a home.
SIREN SONG-Re Worked
Premise
It is HER party; hats, food and drink but SHE never appears. The performers will play games and give speeches endlessly for 6 hours, like they are stuck in a time warp, destined to repeat them selves over and over but with nothing ever being the same twice. Through, games, tasks and repetition, the audience and performers will work together to piece together HER, to generate the missing SHE; endless possibilities will play out and be generated over a 6 hour period. Who is She, What is your relationship with HER?
Outline
This will be a durational piece of work that will last approx 6 hours. The audience will be able to come and go as they please, moving freely through the space. There will also be a diary booth that the performers will take individual audience members into throughout in order to record their thoughts about their experience.
The work will consist of 2 overriding structures that will marshal the activity of both the performers and the audience. The structure will last for approx 2 hours and will be repeated 3 times.
Much of this will be developed through a devising process, so it is difficult to be particularly specific at this stage about the structures that will marshal this work.
There will be two main things going on: Speeches and Games. I am hoping that there will be many speeches and 3 games. I have already decided on two games but everything else will have to be discovered through the devising process.
The games that I have already taking a liking too are: pass the parcel and truth or tape.
Pass the Parcel- There will be objects hidden in each layer, things such as keys, etc. Each object will have a little tag attached with a question on it asking the winner to tell us something about how the object relates to her. So for example they key might have a tag that says ‘tell us about when she gave this back to him’ and the winner of that layer will have to do exactly that!
Truth or Tape- this is just like truth or dare, in stead of a dare the participants of the game will be able to pull a tape out of a bag and play it. The tapes will have many different things on them, all about HER life or taken from her life. So it could be a phone message, a piece of dialogue etc. If they choose truth then they will have to tell us something about her.
Process
These are the things that we will need to achieve or generate during the process:
-To generate new game that will create material about HER.
-To generate more speeches (see the attached document for an example of what we are going to create)
-To generate material for the tapes.
-To generate an overriding rule/game/task that marshals all of our activity.
These are the things that the performers will need to think about:
-their relationship to HER and the other performers/their performance presence.
-their relationship to the audience in performance and in the booth.
-generating a process diary/blog
Time Scale
The performance will be on the 22nd October 07 in the Arts centre.
Rehearsals will start towards the end of September and will be scheduled according to performer’s availability. I am also working on getting us a showing outside of the university either in Bristol or in the Railway, Winchester.
The attached speech was as follows:
SHE: The woman wears Vivienne Westwood's Boudoir perfume for the night time and Chloe Narcissus for during the day.
The woman has long nails, real ones and often paints them black.
She loves Midnight Cowboy.
She likes things to have a place, a home.
She likes to make lists but never sticks to them.
She uses a fountain pen to do all her personal correspondence.
She keeps everything anyone ever gave her.
She keeps her dreams on her sleeve right next to her heart.
She writes magical fantasy stories for her nephews about cats, faerie and goblins.
She has to keep a diary diligently because she is so forgetful.
She has hundreds of shoes but only ever wears 2 pairs.
She has small fingers and all her rings are just slightly too big.
She values honesty and loyalty in her friends
She hates to stay in one place for too long.
She smokes long cigarettes but when she’s out she smokes black ones.
She always has a pen and note book in her bag incase inspiration hits.
When she is alone at home she likes to sing to 80's hair rock at the top of voice.
She hardly ever cries.
She collects things.
She can't sleep.
She loves strawberries with black pepper.
She spoils her kitten too much.
She misses the sea.
She's brave and ferocious.
She is very disciplined and makes herself do things that she does not want to do.
She always sees the bigger picture but is fascinated by the details.
She sometimes forgets to laugh.
She makes mistakes but knows that is okay.
She always talks too much.
She laughs when her brother burps her name.
She wears her heart on her sleeve right next to her dreams.
She always falls hard.
She’s never wrong.
She eats pizza with a knife and fork.
She can keep a secret.
She cries when she listens to her favorite sad songs.
She loves spring.
She sometimes lets the phone ring and ring without picking it up.
She’s never late.
She loves to feel heavy rain on her naked skin.
She gets turned on by the stink of her man.
She often feels alone.
She always checks the handle twice to make sure that the door is really locked.
She has hundreds of pairs of shoes but only ever wears the same two pairs.
She has a broken heart.
She is scared of the dark.
She takes a gleeful delight in the sight of her own blood.
She hardly ever cries.
She wishes she was an only child.
She knows that just because you have his cock in your mouth does not necessarily mean that you have his heart.
She collects things.
She never throws anything out.
She always weeps on her birthday.
She often wishes that she could just vanish.
She is selfish.
She appreciates Jazz and has an affection for the pre-Raphaelite masters.
She has to suck ice lollies because biting them makes her whole body shudder.
She is powerless when he takes up his words; the special ones that he knows make her weak.
She thinks in the dark.
She keeps her memories in a heart shaped box, deep inside her chest.
The smell of Malibu makes her vomit.
She likes things to have a place, a home.
She picks at her feet.
She always misplaces her keys.
She likes to make lists but never sticks to them.
She knows he knows how to tame her too well.
She has a fondness for old things.
She needs to be held tightly.
She makes mistakes but knows that it is okay.
She loves without restraint.
She misses the sea.
She doesn’t have a home.
Wednesday 5 September 2007
Maker’s Diary: Some developments
I met with Olu today to discuss progress and other research matters; then I met with a few potential performers to discuss the performance and what their role would be. So I think I will start by sharing my thoughts about the meeting with Olu and then move on to discuss my chat with the potential performers.
Meeting with Olu
-we discussed the preparations for my upgrade next year and decided on a plan of action for how I need to move forward with that. I think that one of the key aspects is getting both practical parts of the research completed; the performances and the case studies. I can’t really move forward with conceptualising my thesis until I have done this.
-Olu wants me to involve his current debates students in this round of the experiments. He is going to make it compulsory to attend the performance itself as part of the module. He is thinking about getting me to give a performance discussion afterwards for them.
-We discussed Edinburgh and some of the work that I saw there; I am going to contact Little Dove Theatre & Breatheartists to see if they are happy to be used as case studies and answer some questions for me.
I am making progress and moving in the right direction now.
Meeting with Potential Performers
Dan, Adam, Phil and Ruth all came to meet me in the SCR. They all seem really excited about the project, particularly Phil and Ruth. It is difficult to get an idea of their ‘performativity’ from a quick chat but as they are going to present in the performance as themselves a quick chat gives me some indication. They all have experience performing and are keen. Commitment at this stage is as important as anything else. I have taken their contact details and explained a little about the performance but have said that I will e-mail them when I have finalised more details. They are now aware of the concept and time scale. So it is all good.
Meeting with Olu
-we discussed the preparations for my upgrade next year and decided on a plan of action for how I need to move forward with that. I think that one of the key aspects is getting both practical parts of the research completed; the performances and the case studies. I can’t really move forward with conceptualising my thesis until I have done this.
-Olu wants me to involve his current debates students in this round of the experiments. He is going to make it compulsory to attend the performance itself as part of the module. He is thinking about getting me to give a performance discussion afterwards for them.
-We discussed Edinburgh and some of the work that I saw there; I am going to contact Little Dove Theatre & Breatheartists to see if they are happy to be used as case studies and answer some questions for me.
I am making progress and moving in the right direction now.
Meeting with Potential Performers
Dan, Adam, Phil and Ruth all came to meet me in the SCR. They all seem really excited about the project, particularly Phil and Ruth. It is difficult to get an idea of their ‘performativity’ from a quick chat but as they are going to present in the performance as themselves a quick chat gives me some indication. They all have experience performing and are keen. Commitment at this stage is as important as anything else. I have taken their contact details and explained a little about the performance but have said that I will e-mail them when I have finalised more details. They are now aware of the concept and time scale. So it is all good.
Tuesday 4 September 2007
Maker’s Diary: First Contact
Richard Ryan responded to my e-mail but I am not sure that The Railway will be a suitable venue for what I want to achieve this time round.
I put a call for performers on the portal again and have already had two positive responses which is awesome! They are both blokes too. I am getting really excited now. I am meeting with them both in the SCR tomorrow after my meeting with Olu. Things are really starting to gather some momentum now. I am relieved that it is looking as though performers will not be such an issue this time round.
I put a call for performers on the portal again and have already had two positive responses which is awesome! They are both blokes too. I am getting really excited now. I am meeting with them both in the SCR tomorrow after my meeting with Olu. Things are really starting to gather some momentum now. I am relieved that it is looking as though performers will not be such an issue this time round.
Monday 3 September 2007
Maker’s Diary: Picking up Momentum
Right! I have done quite a few bits and bobs today to get things off the ground for the final round of experiments. I sent the following e-mail to Richard Ryan today to see if there is any possibility of getting an off campus public performance too:
Hi Richard
I hope that this e-mail is finding you well. I am in the process of re-working Siren Song to be a durational piece; it will be performed on the 22nd Oct 07 at a space in Winchester University (exact details still to be confirmed). I wanted to give you a heads up, so that you can pop the date in your diary.
I also wanted to ask another quick question. I am looking to take the work to a venue outside of the university but have run very low on budget now; I was wondering if you were perhaps aware of any local performance spaces that are (free) or very cheap within the Winchester area?
I look forward to hearing from you
Best wishes
Joanna Bucknall
I also made initial contact with David Buss to start up commxs on the tech side of things:
Hi David
I hope that this e-mail is finding you well.
For various reasons (mostly because I did not get the data I needed for my research), I am re-working Siren Song and have been allocated the Arts Centre Monday 22nd October from 10am - 5pm. It will not be a ticketed event, so I do not need to worry about a duty manager; however, I will require a certain amount of tech support. I really just wanted to check that this will be possible for this date?
I will pre-pare a risk assessment form and a tech drive in due course. I would really appreciate it if you could let me know asap if that is going to be okay as well as if you need anything further from me. I am now fairly familiar with that space, so don't really need to come and have a look around. The only major tech requirement is that I need the space free of the fixed seating bank. Since the space is usually without this, I am going to assume that will not be too much of an issue.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes
Joanna Bucknall
I now feel very re-freshed after my trip and have spent some time developing the new concept and structure of the performance:
SIREN SONG-Re Worked
Premise
It is HER party; hats, food and drink but SHE never appears. The performers will play games and give speeches endlessly for 6 hours, like they are stuck in a time warp, destined to repeat them selves over and over but with nothing ever being the same twice. Through, games, tasks and repetition, the audience and performers will work together to piece together HER, to generate the missing SHE; endless possibilities will play out and be generated over a 6 hour period. Who is She, What is your relationship with HER?
Outline
This will be a durational piece of work that will last approx 6 hours. The audience will be able to come and go as they please, moving freely through the space. There will also be a diary booth that the performers will take individual audience members into throughout in order to record their thoughts about their experience.
The work will consist of 2 overriding structures that will marshal the activity of both the performers and the audience. The structure will last for approx 2 hours and will be repeated 3 times.
Much of this will be developed through a devising process, so it is difficult to be particularly specific at this stage about the structures that will marshal this work.
There will be two main things going on: Speeches and Games. I am hoping that there will be many speeches and 3 games. I have already decided on two games but everything else will have to be discovered through the devising process.
The games that I have already taking a liking too are: pass the parcel and truth or tape.
Pass the Parcel- There will be objects hidden in each layer, things such as keys, etc. Each object will have a little tag attached with a question on it asking the winner to tell us something about how the object relates to her. So for example they key might have a tag that says ‘tell us about when she gave this back to him’ and the winner of that layer will have to do exactly that!
Truth or Tape- this is just like truth or dare, in stead of a dare the participants of the game will be able to pull a tape out of a bag and play it. The tapes will have many different things on them, all about HER life or taken from her life. So it could be a phone message, a piece of dialogue etc. If they choose truth then they will have to tell us something about her.
Hi Richard
I hope that this e-mail is finding you well. I am in the process of re-working Siren Song to be a durational piece; it will be performed on the 22nd Oct 07 at a space in Winchester University (exact details still to be confirmed). I wanted to give you a heads up, so that you can pop the date in your diary.
I also wanted to ask another quick question. I am looking to take the work to a venue outside of the university but have run very low on budget now; I was wondering if you were perhaps aware of any local performance spaces that are (free) or very cheap within the Winchester area?
I look forward to hearing from you
Best wishes
Joanna Bucknall
I also made initial contact with David Buss to start up commxs on the tech side of things:
Hi David
I hope that this e-mail is finding you well.
For various reasons (mostly because I did not get the data I needed for my research), I am re-working Siren Song and have been allocated the Arts Centre Monday 22nd October from 10am - 5pm. It will not be a ticketed event, so I do not need to worry about a duty manager; however, I will require a certain amount of tech support. I really just wanted to check that this will be possible for this date?
I will pre-pare a risk assessment form and a tech drive in due course. I would really appreciate it if you could let me know asap if that is going to be okay as well as if you need anything further from me. I am now fairly familiar with that space, so don't really need to come and have a look around. The only major tech requirement is that I need the space free of the fixed seating bank. Since the space is usually without this, I am going to assume that will not be too much of an issue.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes
Joanna Bucknall
I now feel very re-freshed after my trip and have spent some time developing the new concept and structure of the performance:
SIREN SONG-Re Worked
Premise
It is HER party; hats, food and drink but SHE never appears. The performers will play games and give speeches endlessly for 6 hours, like they are stuck in a time warp, destined to repeat them selves over and over but with nothing ever being the same twice. Through, games, tasks and repetition, the audience and performers will work together to piece together HER, to generate the missing SHE; endless possibilities will play out and be generated over a 6 hour period. Who is She, What is your relationship with HER?
Outline
This will be a durational piece of work that will last approx 6 hours. The audience will be able to come and go as they please, moving freely through the space. There will also be a diary booth that the performers will take individual audience members into throughout in order to record their thoughts about their experience.
The work will consist of 2 overriding structures that will marshal the activity of both the performers and the audience. The structure will last for approx 2 hours and will be repeated 3 times.
Much of this will be developed through a devising process, so it is difficult to be particularly specific at this stage about the structures that will marshal this work.
There will be two main things going on: Speeches and Games. I am hoping that there will be many speeches and 3 games. I have already decided on two games but everything else will have to be discovered through the devising process.
The games that I have already taking a liking too are: pass the parcel and truth or tape.
Pass the Parcel- There will be objects hidden in each layer, things such as keys, etc. Each object will have a little tag attached with a question on it asking the winner to tell us something about how the object relates to her. So for example they key might have a tag that says ‘tell us about when she gave this back to him’ and the winner of that layer will have to do exactly that!
Truth or Tape- this is just like truth or dare, in stead of a dare the participants of the game will be able to pull a tape out of a bag and play it. The tapes will have many different things on them, all about HER life or taken from her life. So it could be a phone message, a piece of dialogue etc. If they choose truth then they will have to tell us something about her.
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