The View From The Other Side

Posted on by

This week saw the end of the Lincoln Red Poppy Run as the project was concluded on Tuesday.  Having had a few days to consider and conduct an internal post-mortem on the project I have thought of a few points worth sharing.

Firstly the nature of the work itself.  This is what took me by surprise most.  Having entered this MA programme from a playwriting window, deciding to create work from a multimedia inspired seminar (Thanks to Dan Hunt!) was very unexpected.  Looking back I think why I enjoyed the module itself was because of the fact we as students AND practitioners were encouraged to explore different disciplines of performance.  Not only did I try it but I also have developed a greater appreciation for instillation and performance art work, which I presume comes from a greater understanding of the history and theory we discussed on the module.

Secondly, I FINISHED IT!

red poppy run 100

 

And finally, the audience seemed to enjoy the work! Having received feedback over the last few days via email, what audience members had said was that it was clear, the theory and the practice all “presented in a way easy to follow” and with “enthusiasm”.  Clarity has been a bit of a sore spot with some of my past performances as I have often tried to intertwine too many ideas or agendas to a less than satisfactory standard.

I managed to achieve what it was I set out to investigate: How can we identify different layers of performance in a piece.  Aside from those I identified in the presentation, I couldn’t quite foresee the effect on the layers of performance when introducing a second performer (Thanks to Tom Briggs!) into the piece.  If I ever have the opportunity to present this piece of work again then I would like to investigate more into the layers which exist within the performance, of course, but also between the two realms of the performers.

The Practical – The Lincoln Red Poppy Run

Posted on by

It was not until a few weeks ago that I came across an idea for recreating a performance which resonates with some of the discussions we have been having on the module.   I knew I wanted to address some of the ideas that came up in our lesson with Daniel Hunt, in which we talked about mediatised, digital performances, audiences existing on virtual levels and the idea of the Posthuman.

Then, in the lead up to remembrance Sunday this November, I was also looking for ways to raise money for the British Legion.  This was when I came across Vodafone’s Big Poppy Run.  “Inspired by the thought of wounded soldiers like himself and those who never made it home, young former Royal Marine Ben McBean ran 31 miles across London in the shape of a huge poppy, guided by a smartphone on the Vodafone network” (The Royal British Legion, 2014).

So, in response to what McBean carried out in London, I have begun to do the same in Lincoln.  Today I have finished running the parameter of my poppy around Lincoln town centre, colouring in the streets on the map as I go.

Red poppy run start

Between now and the show back to my peers on December 2nd  (This date changed – the performance will now take place January 20th) I intend to run every street left inside the poppy parameter above. You me be wondering where exactly this ties together with the theoretical work we have been studying.

My main intention for this performance is to examine the layers of performance which exist for what I am calling The Lincoln Red Poppy Run.  I define performance in this context as any point where someone is a spectator to someone contributing to this project.  So for example so far I have established the following layers of performance:

The Immediate – Those in studio x who will be watching both me presenting the performance, and to the volunteer who will be running the last stretch of the poppy (visible from the window).

The Virtual – For the purposes of the demonstration, my volunteer will be linked up to us in the studio via Skype so that we have direct, digital contact with him.  Also as he runs, we will be able to follow his progress, meaning we can complete the poppy image.

The Unknowing – Those “audience members” out in the street who will be passing the runner, unaware of the fact they are part of a performance.

The Performer Himself – He will be able to see us in the studio via the Skype uplink, so he will be the spectator to us observing him.

So far it is these different aspects that I am exploring to establish how a performance can have multiple layers (with mediatised assistance).  This was an idea that has developed from our class work on the Lincoln Noir project which you can read about on a previous blog post.

This project is also inspired by the works of Blast Theory, and in particular their project Can You See Me Now? This involved a game of tag to be played online and in real life simultaneously.  One team play at a computer, whilst the second team take to the streets; “tracked by satellites, Blast Theory’s runners appear online next to your player on a map of the city. On the streets, handheld computers showing the positions of online players guide the runners in tracking you down” (Adams, 2001).  The game allows up to a hundred people to play the game, this extending the layers of performance, from just the physical and digital, to also include the social world as players are encouraged to co-ordinate and share tactics.  The game creates a hybrid canvas for performance in which those involved can explore both realms of possibility.  It is this overlapping which Blast Theory feels is at the core of what they achieved with Can You See Me Now?  “In what ways can we talk about intimacy in the electronic realm? . . . Against this backdrop can we establish a more subtle understanding of the nuances of online relationships” (Adams, 2001).  Entering into the Posthuman age, when the greater amount of the average person’s social interaction is conducted over the internet, Can You See Me Now? explores this field. It brings players and runners into the same virtual space from all around the globe and introduces physical social interaction into the virtual world.

 

Works Cited

Adams, Matt (2001) Can You See Me Now?, Blast Theory [online] Available at: http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/projects/can-you-see-me-now, Accessed [21/11/2014].

The Royal British Legion (2014) ‘The Big Poppy Run – Vodafone Firsts’, BritishLegion.org [online] Available at: http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/about-us/calendar-of-events/fundraising/the-big-poppy-run-vodafone-firsts, Accessed [21/11/2014].

Vodaphone Firsts (2014) ‘The trailer – Ben McBean’s #First Big Poppy Run PR’, YouTube [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro40EU0I0L8#t=13, Accessed [21/11/2014].

The Contemporary in Historical Context – Ghosting

Posted on by

This week we studied the importance of researching historical context, and in particular Marvin Carlson’s notion of ghosting.  All performances can be seen as historical events, they hold a certain resonance to the past.  The theatre “is always at vanishing point” (Blau, 1982, p. 28) and “becomes itself through disappearance” (Phelan, 1993, p. 146).  A concept with similar qualities to one shared during our observations into scenography (previously in the module) as the stage being an ephemeral void.

No theatrical event can occur without being influenced in some way by what has previously occurred in some context.  It is by responding to what has come before that informs what comes next.  Even with regard to performance, “every performance . . . embeds features of previous performances” (Diamond, 1996, p. 1); something presented on the stage has reference to a past event.  This is the basis for Carlson’s idea of ghosting and the stage as a haunted space.  “Everything in the theatre, the bodies, the materials utilized, the language, the space itself, is now and has always been haunted” (Carlson, 2001, p. 15).  For example let’s look at a popular piece of recent theatre; the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2008 production of Hamlet starring David Tennant as the Prince of Denmark.  First performed at The Courtyard, Stratford-upon-Avon, the extent to which we can examine the different variations of ghosting involved is near infinite.  Firstly, as Carlson explains, the space itself is a grounds for which haunting happens.  When choosing to perform Hamlet in Stratford-upon-Avon for instance, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, the production is haunted by the playwright himself.  Then there is the stage, The Courtyard, which will also be haunted by its previous productions, previous audiences and pretty much anything or anyone to have inhabited that particular space over time.

 

tennant

 

After the actual space we can begin to look at variations of ghosting within the performance.  Turning our attention to the protagonist; when most think of David Tennant in 2008, the immediate though would be his role as the Doctor in Doctor Who.  “Tennant . . . has no difficulty in making the transition from the BBC’s Time Lord to a man who could be bounded in a nutshell and count himself a king of infinite space” (Billington, 2008).  Audiences will naturally be intrigued to see Tennant’s transition from Doctor Who to Hamlet and will watch his performance comparing him to his well known TV character.  This meaning that Tennant’s performance is haunted by his previous work, when audiences will not only be comparing his depiction of Hamlet to other famous actors who have taken on the challenge (Laurence Olivier to name but one), but to his previous characters from different productions.

This is less than a percentage of the amount of ghosting that occurs in one production, as Carlson lists also include, the director’s previous works, the staging, the appearances props and costumes have had in other works of art.  These are but some of the other aspects to consider in what is arguably a never-ending list of hauntings.

So we were asked the question: Why? Why do theatre historiography?

The responses we collated as a class resembled something as never-ending as the list of ways in which theatre can be haunted.

Among the responses, understanding what the original performance conditions consisted of was perhaps the best reason, in my opinion, to examine the ghosts of theatre’s past.  I favour this reason because I believe that any director (or producer / dramaturg for that matter), before he or she makes any attempt at reviving  a performance, needs to understand the decisions made for the first production, and any/all subsequent productions that followed.  They need to make themselves aware of the cultural, political and aesthetic impact of the original theatrical event.

 

 

Works Cited:

Billington, Michael (2008) ‘Hamlet’, The Guardian [online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/aug/06/theatre.rsc, Accessed [21/11/2014].

Blau, Herbert (1982) Take Up the Bodies: Theatre at the Vanishing Point, Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press.

Carlson, Marvin (2001) The Haunted Stage: The Theatre as Memory Machine, Ann Arbour: University of Michigan Press.

Diamond, Elin (1997) Unmaking Mimesis: Essays on Feminism and Theatre, New York: Routledge.

Phelan, Peggy (1993) Unmarked: the Politics of Performance, London: Routledge.

Sceneography

Posted on by

This week we looked at interpreting stages, mainly the stage design and the interaction the actors have within this environment.  It is often described as a void, a space of limitless possibility, “the stage, regardless of its configuration, functions as an optical focal point and creates the impression that we are looking through this lens into a boundless space beyond” (Aronson, 2005, p. 1).  It is a platform for exploration.  For the audience watching said infinite space, we learned about certain stage decisions which contribute to the meaning of the performance we are watching.  These come in the form of proxemics, semiotics and kinesics.

Proxemics regards the distances between those in the auditorium, between actor and actor, actor and audience, even actor to specific items of staging/scenery.  These distances offer clues to relations between two or more parties.

Semiotics regards the interpretation of meaning from the pictures that are conjured up on the stage, what signs we identify, and what it is that these signs signify.

Kinesics originating from kinaesthetic – motion – regards the motion of the performance of the stage, actions such as gesture and facial expression.

All of these contribute to the meaning drama.

It is important to stress that the meaning of the drama is the most important driving factor in creating a performance.  American playwright David Mamet explains that most theatre makers are hindered by their misguided intention of creating realism, an urge to be truthful, but “to be true constrains them to judge their efforts and actions against an inchoate, which is to say an unspecified standard of reality” (1986, p. 130).  Also the question arises what is it we are being true to? The real and the true are not partnered; we can achieve one by neglecting the other.  This misguided view perhaps stems from an inaccurate reading of Stanislavsky’s rule that the artist’s primary objective is to be true to the playwright.  That does not require reality to be re-performed on stage, in fact it is impossible to integrate reality onto the stage as the audience are watching a rehearsed event and the characters are not real themselves.  What Stanislavsky is more likely alluding to by saying that we must be true to the playwright, is that the meaning artists create should be an accurate portrayal of the playwright’s efforts.  “Each facet of every production must be weighed and understood solely on the basis of its interrelationship to the other elements: on its service or lack of service to the meaning” (Mamet, 1986, p. 130).  What theatre should not be, and quite frankly what it will fail to be, is an attempt to re-perform real life.

 

 

Works Cited

 

Aronson, Arnold (2005) Looking into the Abyss: Essays on Scenography, USA: University of Michigan Press.  pp. 1 – 80

Mamet, David (1986) ‘Realism’ in Writing in Restaurants, London: Penguin.  pp. 130-132

The Post-Modern

Posted on by

To first unearth what classifies as post-modernity, let us first establish the former: modernity. Modernity (widely speaking) accepts that knowledge exists to counter already-existing knowledge that fits into societies ‘bigger picture’. More clearly put, art exists to “exploit master narratives as tools to liberate individuals from tradition” (Arens, 1991, p. 19), it looks for cracks in the system to forge new styles, new approaches. Post-modernity on the other hand regards art as being “concerned not with the formal purity of artistic mediums, but with textual impurity” (Arens, 1991, p. 19) the interconnections of power and knowledge in social representations. Post-modernity accepts that all ‘new’ styles are no more than parodies as there is no such thing as formal history. Post-modernism is largely a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific or objective efforts to explain reality. As it “stems from a recognition that reality is not simply mirrored in human understanding of it, but rather, is constructed as the mind tries to understand it’s own particular and personal reality” (Westerside, 2014).

To exemplify this, we looked at Gobsquad’s production of Kitchen (You’ve Never Had It So Good) (2007). This production saw a restaging, or rather a live re-filming of three Andy Warhol projects : Kitchen, Sleep, & Screen Test.

Kitchen (You’ve Never Had It So Good) typifies the stance Post-modern art makers utilise of borrowing and recycling, re-invigorating historical forms (in this case 60s Warhol culture). “Gob Squad’s Kitchen becomes a journey back in time and back to the future again”(Gob Squad, 2014). Re-examing current works of art, disecting and toying with each aspect of them, providing a current contextual examination of an event from a different time.  This is the work of Post-modernists.

What is also worth highlighting is that the Post-modern is not only specific to performance, among others, we have seen Post-modern evidence in architecture. The construction of mock-Tudor houses for example. A building with no heritage of the Tudor period, yet designed in the same way. Or otherwise in music when you hear a current artist covering a hit from the sixties or seventies, borrowing perhaps only the lyrics of an original song, but changing the musical accompaniment entirely.

 

Works Cited

Arens, Katherine (1991) ‘Robert Wilson: Is Postmodern Performance Possible?’ Theatre Journal, Vol. 43 (1).  pp. 14-40.

Gob Squad (2014) ‘Gob Squad Archive – Kitchen’ [online] Gobsquad.com, Available At: http://www.gobsquad.com/projects/gob-squads-kitchen-youve-never-had-it-so-good.  [Accessed:  03/11/2014]. 

Westerside, Andrew (2014) ‘Week Two – The Post-modern’ [lecture] Current Issues in Drama, Theatre and Performance. University of Lincoln. 1st October.