Jake Seliger states, “non-places one cannot have any real recourse to common humanity: you can’t ask to borrow something, to be done a favour, or to expect to know the myriad of strangers you cross.” (Seliger, 2010) a statement which we hope to challenge in our performance. Principally our piece is based upon asking the audience for a ‘favour’ and five minutes of their time. In extension, we hope to parallel Seliger’s ideas of common humanity by placing a sitting room structure in the underpass of the Guildhall and asking passers by to ‘pop in’ for a cup of tea. Although simplistic offering tea is semiotic, representing the welcoming and acceptance of a new person in your home environment. We aim to make the process of offering, making and drinking tea a catalyst for an open confessional exchange. By utilising the underpass of the Guildhall to create a socially recognised environment, alongside promoting the exchange we are aiming to change people’s perception and feelings towards the underpass and create a positive memories towards the space. Therefore, taking a non-place and creating a place.
Our main challenge going forward is the theatricality of the performance. During our class discussion the point was raised over the costume and characterisation of performers as 1950’s tea ladies or housewives. However, a potential by-product of this decision would be to make the performance gender based; would the audience see the piece as a gender political statement of female repression, or could we be making a statement on the emancipation of women in modern society? Furthermore, the logistics and construction of the piece have caused concern as sourcing specific components have become challenging. As a group we have delegated responsibilities to insure the delivery of each aspect of the performance from the set to the running of appliances etc.
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