Today we were able to present to the class our performance idea and explain our intentions and process so far. We created a presentation that involved the videos and sounds that are in my previous blog posts, and we also created a miniature structure to view in detail what we intend the piece to look like.
In the presentation we discussed each of our main influences: Sophie Calle, Mark Auge and Adrian Howells. We also focused on explaining how we will use confessional exchange, how it surrounds place and non-place, and defining our historical reference.
We received the following feedback and had the following discussions:
John Newling can relate to our piece depending on the way we use lighting. He used lights in a site specific performance to create a safe place and which audiences/the public took comfort in. Because our intention is to use fairy lights and lamps to create a warm atmosphere, he can most certainly be an influence for us. We should also look into his intention for using lights and the full results of his piece.
We need to decide on what roles each person will be doing on the day. For example we can swap from being the hostess, to holding the signs, to making tea. We are going to meet in a group so that we can create distint roles. This will help our performance to run smoothly, and allow us not to crowd the single audience member when performing the confessional exchange.
We want to think about offering alternative refreshments for those who do not favour tea. This will also benefit us if we have a problem with the tea urn/getting constant hot water in order to make tea.
We want to think about what time we will be performing. If we perform early in the day will we get a different try of audience to if we perform later in the day. We need to examine what time will be best to get a more willing audience with the spare time to talk to us.
We could consider creating characters and in particular experimenting with being stereotypical housewives. If we do this, it could very well change the aim of our piece – our current aim would be best represented if we were to act ourselves, as it surrounds us attempting to connect to the city through listening and responding to audience experiences and stories. Although acting as housewives may create a more detailed experience for our audience and could make it easier to draw audiences into our piece. We need to discuss whether doing this will be going against our aim and shifting the focus onto the audience experience throughout the performance. If this is the case, how can we as performers benefit in a way that is similar to our previous intention. As our aim changes, our practitioner/theorist influences will also alter and we need to keep this in consideration. An example of this change is using Adrian Howell’s not only with confessional exchange, but also the way he take on a persona of ‘Adrienne’. Is the housewives idea primarily to make our work aesthetically pleasing? Or could we create a more interesting performance that is more beneficial to both performers and audiences, and will we be able to connect to different practitioners to create an alternative clear aim in order to improve our piece.
Our use of tea – social structure, perhaps the roles can reverse and the audience member can make the cup of tea.
Look at Cloud cuckoo lander – hosting.
Do these things add to ‘nostalgia’?
Look at Bobby Baker and research him.
