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Name: Florence Delaney

Age: 33

Height: 5 foot 5 inches

Weight: That's best not disclosed....

Occupation: Florist and full time preacher of peace and love brother!

Florence Delaney, lover of our lord and jesus christ. Devoted follower and preacher of all that is good in the world.
Kooky, yet eccentric, the world is her mushroom and she is full of peace and love! She's got the whole world in her hands.

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Grundy (2018) states that a traditional theatre space are complex buildings, made up of many elements, which need to be planned carefully.
there are many types of theatre buildings but they mainly all consist of and contain many elements, such as:- A stage,
Stalls
Front of house,
Orchestra pit,
Wings,
Control box
Dressing room
Green room

Below is an image of what would typically be classed as a traditional theatre space.

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As the practitioner, The theatre in which one has chosen and shall be performing is invisible theatre.

This performance shall not be in a typical traditional theatre space such as a theatre.

It shall be taking place in an unconventional theatre space, within the grounds of the University Centre in Grimsby.

Invisible theatre is something in which one has never performed before, and quite literally pushes the limitations of what is classed as comfortable and enjoyable for oneself within regards of performing arts.

The invention of Florence is to help seperate oneself being Gemma, into an alter ego completely seperate from anything remotely close to how one is as a person. In the hopes it helps the authenticity of the performance and the character being portrayed.

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The song 'oh happy day' shall be a song in which Florence shall light heartedly perform and have fun with, hopefully drawing members of the public in to interact and sing along with her.
The reason for this song choice is, it is a happy upbeat song about jesus, and many people will be familiar with it from the film Sister Act 2, therefore they may be more susceptible to want to join in with observing the performance.

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Emma Thompson, The eccentric professor Trelawney from Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.
Florence shall transition and maintain this character throughout the performance, embracing her craziness and uniqueness.

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Nigel Planer, The laid back hippy Neil from the young ones. and influencer of Florences laid back personality.

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Kathy Najimy aka Sister Mary Clarence.
The Loving character Florence shall mutate into whilst bursting into song, singing about God.

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Upon much deliberation, the decision was made to eliminate the idea of becoming a prostitute.
The reasons fo doing so were there ran a risk of putting oneself in danger.
The risk of getting in trouble with the law for them thinking the act of soliciting  was occuring.
The possibility that the whole performance could be a wasted opportunity with the chance of no audience or anyone to interact with and having an end product of just being stood there doing nothing.

So instead, the decision was made to become an eccentric peaceful hippy preacher loosely following religion.

The aim is not to force religion down peoples throats, but to simply interact and tell them that they are valued as individuals, that god loves us all and that we are never truly alone.

The decision was made that to execute this performance properly, would be to find a character to transform into.
The Character would be a fun loving eccentric hipster called Florence, whos sole aim in life is to spread love and joy.

The influences chosen and that will help to inspire the personality of the character being played by oneself are a mixture of three people.

The first being Kathy Najimy who played sister Mary Patrick in the hit film Sister act.
Her larger than life and bubbly loving character shall be moulded into the personality of Florence.

The second shall be Nigel Planer who played the hippy character Neil from the massive hit sitcom the young ones from the 80's. Florence shall adapt and mould Neils laid back charecteristics into her own.

The third character Florence shall be drawing inspiration from is Professor Sybil Trelawney from The Harry Potter Franchise played by Emma Thompson.
Florence shall inherit her eccentric personality from this character.

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As the practitioner, the decision in which was undertaken by oneself was to perform invisible theatre.
With a specific aim of performing in an unconventional theatre space, without the knowledge of the audience  knowing that what they are witnessing is actually a piece of theatre.
The initial idea for the performance is to take on the role of a prostitute on a sidewalk waiting to solicit clients .

The idea of this is to test and to see the publics reaction and responses of a subject that is normally a taboo topic and something not necassarily performed in a typical theatre performance.
As the practitioner one would like  for an unconventional approach with this, pushing the boundaries by potentially putting oneself at risk within regards to becoming vulnerable and opening oneself up to danger considering what it is that is actually being done.

The area which would be used for this would be the local red light area known as orwell street.
It is widely known throughout Grimsby that this is the area in which prostitutes exchange sexual favours for money.

The role in which shall be undertaken by oneself shall be to dress provocatively and act in a seductive manner, hopefully drawing the attention of others around gauging their response.
There is a chance that i doing this that literally nothing could happen if there were no one around at the time chosen, and that ultimately the performance would fail.
There also runs the risk that by doing this , as the practitioner one is putting them self in harms way, with a direct threat of violence, something in which will require  extreme consideration and caution.

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Invisible Theatre Project- Homelessman Confrontation 2

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The experimental theatre itself took place in the quad area outside in the Uniersity centre Grimsby.

Florence began to preach in the outside area of the quad, with a crowd of around 20 people scattered around close by.
Instantly catching the attention of some younger male students who were located behind her.
They instantly began shouting things and heckling in the direction of florence, as if trying to provoke a reaction.
However being unsuccesful in this and  failing in their attempts, gave up very quickly not getting a response and therefor leaving the area.

As the minutes passed it was very hard to succesfully gain eye contact or interaction with anyone, as what florence was saying seemed to make people a little uncomfortable and not want to participate, which was the complete opposite in which one was hoping for within regards to this project.

As the practitioner, it was hoped that by keeping the religion in a very light hearted and non pushy way, it would be easier to interact with passers by, and upon seeing how florence was dressed and the eccentrc way she was behaving that they would want to talk or join in with her. Unfortunately this was not the case.
One wanted laughs and interaction with passers by, something which unfortunately did not happen.

After 5 minutes of preaching from her book of Peace, Love and Joy, Florence broke out into the hymn "oh happy day"
This was a very hippy, but over the top performance with a little added humor of twirls and the use of a tambourine.

Florence tried to involve a group of girls walking past by singing a line to them and encouraging them to repeat it. Out of a group of between 8-10 girls, only one girl very quietly but giggly repeated the line after Florence.
Again as the practitioner, the responses given were not what were anticipated.

It became very clear alot of people thought Florence was perhaps a little crazy, with people  avoiding eye contact and a few people even changing the direction in which they were walking to avoid interaction.

There were however a few people stood close by, who found the antics of florence funny, laughing and filming on their phones.
This was something in which one was extremely worried about beforehand and how this could have been percieved and perhaps twisted if uploaded to social media.

Florence managed a few slight interactions with probably 3 people at most, but these were only slight grumbles and smiles.

As the practitioner, upon choosing this subject, one thought people would want to interact or strike a debate about the topic of God and the controversy surrounding what is seen as a taboo subject when being preached freely.

During the performance, as florence was mid sentence about how god is good and great, a Muslim member of staff left the uni building opposite staring directly in her direction, making one stop mid sentence, as this was simply something one felt uncomfortable with incase of causing offence and one became quite flustered.
After roughly a few seconds, one quickly switched the subject and turned the situation around bursting into quotes and lyrics from influential pop stars from over the years.

Amongst those were lyrics were words one has grown up with from being a youngster without realising that the artist themselves were actually talking about god and their beliefs.
The most meaningful being the lyrics from the artist Prince and his song titled lets go crazy.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life.
Electric words life, and it means forever and thats a mighty long time, but i'm here to tell you. There's something else, the afterworld. A world of never ending happiness, you can always see the sun, day or the night."
(Prince 1983)

From being a child those lyrics were played countless times without actually realising the meaning.

Whilst quoting these lyrics, a member of staff approached a student also on the performing arts course who was standing nearby incase anyone had an overt reaction to what florence was doing, who was going to intervene and call security.
After being told security were aware that this was infact an experimental theatre performance, the member of staff went back inside and left florence to preach.

Upon Reflection, One has come to the conclusion that religion is such a complex thing and something perhaps underestimated by oneself before picking the subject, as the reactions from the audience really were not anything like one would have hoped.
In the future one would like to perhaps perform the piece again, but dressed plain and in a normal manner to see if the reactions of the public would be any different than what they were with Florence.

It did however as the practitioner open ones eyes on how as a society when faced with something a little out of the ordinary, we can become shut off and almost a bit defensive with things we are not familiar with.

Which in terms leads to the question what is normal?

For example wicked.
A show performed in a conventional theatre space with a cast of a green witch, a good fairy, a wicked witch and flying monkeys, but a show people watch and enjoy and love as its viewed as normal because its performed in an actual theatre and known as being a performance.

Could the same be said if it were performed in an unconventional theatre space? A green witch defying gravity and flying monkeys on the loose? Would it still be normal? Or loved?

As a society do we fear the unfamiliar if its unconventionally done? Are we willing to open our eyes to change and embrace that the arts are changing in the best and most creative ways, and that we dont always have to watch something on a stage for it to be an enjoyable piece of theatre.

As the practitioner and as a whole, looking back at ones experimenal theatre, one is happy with how it turned out, as things do not always have to go to plan or how you expect. This was most definately the case with the experimental theatre in which one performed this time.

But that is the whole point of experimental theatre. Challenging what is normal, on he whole and very surprisingly a massively enjoyable performance

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Image  theatre:- Farmer (2014) suggests that  image theatre are still images used to explore abstract concepts such as relationships and emotions, as well as realistic situations. The technique was developed by Augusto  Boal

Invisible theatre:-  Burstow (2008) suggests that invisible theatre is theatre that seeks never to be recognized as theatre, performed in a public place with the aim being to make the intervention as realistic as possible so that it provokes real and spontaneous responses. This was a technique used by Augusto Boal and his theatre of the oppressed.

Guerilla theatre:- Muscato (2003) suggests Guerilla theatre uses public performances to personally engage with people over social and political issues. Guerilla theatre originated in 1965 by the San Francisco Mime Troupe.

Street theatre:-  Mason (1992) suggests that street theatre is a performance dealing with controversial social and political issues that is usually performed outdoors in public areas, such as a street, shopping precincts or park, usually for a non paying audience. Street theatre is arguably the oldest form of theatre in existence.

Forum theatre:-  Farmer (2014)  argues that forum theatre was a technique pioneered by brazilian radical Augusto Boal. It uses a play or scene usually indicating  some form of oppression to be shown twice. During the replay, the audience member (spec-actor) is allowed to shout stop, step forward and take the place of one of the oppressed characters, enabling them to possibly change the outcome. The stratergy aims to break through the barrier between audience and performance, putting them on an equal footing.

Legislative theatre:- Mitchell (2004) suggests Legislative Theatre is  Essentially a form of forum theatre performance,. A short play about a particular issue or set of issues that ends in a crisis, in which the audience is invited to help solve by taking the place of one of the performers on stage.

The alienation effect:- Willett (1977) suggests that the allienation effect was Brechts principle of using innovative theatrical techniques to make the familiar, strange. provoking a social critical audience response.

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Experimental theatre is  a non specific  term for  various theatrical styles and movements that came about in the 1900's from a man named Alfred Jarry.
At that time, the acceptable conventions for the writing and productions of plays were pretty narrow and leaned very heavily towards naturalism, which strives to mirror reality in the style of acting, dialogue, costuming and sets.
Alfred Jarry  was a french writer born in 1873  and is known for his absurdist plays about King Ubu with his works of ubu roi.

The term "Experimental Theatre" has  evolved over time, as mainstream theatre has embraced many forms that were once seen as radical. It is pretty much used interchangeably with the term avant-garde-theatre.
Haan (2014) suggests Alfred Jarry was viewed as the forerunner of Avant-Garde movements such as futurism, dadaism and surrealism.

However Beuys (1972) suggests it first appeared with reference to art in france, in the first half of the nineteenth century, and is usually credited to Henri de Saint-Simon, thought to be one of the forerunners of socialism. In 1852 he wrote,

"We artists will serve you as an          avent-garde, the power of the arts is most immediate, when we want o spread new ideas, we inscribe them on marble or canvas. What a magnificent destiny for the arts is that of exercising a positive power over society, a truly priestly function and of marching inthe van [i.e. vanguard] of all the intellectual faculties.
Henri de saint-simon (1852)

Beuys (1972) argues that avent-garde often has a social or political dimension to it. Himself belonging to the avent-garde  network Flexus. Adapting the concept that everything is art, and that also every single aspect of life can be approached creatively, bringing forth the idea of everyone has th potential to be an artist.

Rudolph Schwarzkogler was a vienna based artist who raised a whole entire level of avent-garde. Beuys (1972) argues the actions of Schwarzkogler were intended to highlight the violence of humanity and were made to be as deliberately shocking as possible, including self torture and the religious sacrifical torture of animals using their blood and entrails for quasi-religious ceremonies.