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lighting rig

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I genuinely,at the beginning, thought I was going into a presentation about different theatre spaces. It was set up very well making us believe it as we were took on a little tour and stopped to hear about different points. When we got into the black box and Donna was talking us through some of the different props there were it still seemed like the presentation was happening. There were a few comments made between Donna and Eve, one of the participating audience members, that wouldn't normally be said during a presentation. This was when I started to think it wasn't a presentation and was something else, like an experimental theatre piece. When Donna started shouting for us to put our phones on the floor and hands in the air I did have a few nerves as I didn't know what was happening but she had us as a group very well controlled in terms of how she wanted us. I really liked her take on the experimental theatre piece but also had a level of uneasiness when I was picked out due to me laughing as she got in my face and was shouting at me directly.
Iredale, S. (2020) email. [Accessed: 6th January 2020].

Well I thought she was lovely to begin with, very clear and helpful to all students! When Eve started playing up I thought to myself 'How rude' ... but that was just when it all kicked off.... never felt so awlward/scared in my life... I was half expecting Donna to pull a gun out and shoot anyone that looked at her but at the same time I could not stop looking at her!!! I was relieved when she blindfolded a male student because I then realised she was acting! Absolutely amazing experience that I hopefully won't relive lol! Xxxx
Rush, A (2020) level 4 performing arts student. [Accessed 9th January 2020].

At the start i it was just going to be a tour around the arts block and being told where and why we could use an area for rehearsals.

When we was in the black box and Eve started to mess around I didn’t think it was part of the  tour and I thought you would have to re-film it.

When you shouted at for laughing I did get scared a little and I didn’t know what too say. I found it was a little creepy when you made us put our phones and bags on the floor I thought someone would answer you and say no. I didn’t want to leave because I found some parts was funny but I was trying to not to laugh in case you shouted at me again.

In the black out and after I didn’t know that you had killed Nick unlit I saw the fake blood because I was on the same side as him.

Wood, K (2020) email. [Accessed: 6th January 2020].

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The day of the performance arrived and one of the plants had to pull out due to work commitments meaning I had to rewrite and re-evaluate the original idea. instead of a plant dressing as a mannequin I got another actor to come in and cause trouble for me by touching props and name calling me, whilst another plant tried to reassure me but this is taken out of context and much like Sarah Kane in Psychosis and her mental state, this leads me to turn on that plant forcing them to sit blindfolded for the remaining time, showing mental health and voices in the head in the experimental theatre like Kane did in '4.48 Psychosis' Dudley (2004) says this experimental theatre was designed to make an audience feel uncomfortable and have to think about how the actor feels. by fooling the audience and lulling them into a false sense of security. switching roles from patient to doctor, this is how I wanted mine to come across, I would switch from presenter to woman acting out of character then back to presenter. I invited some student groups over 18 to come along at 4.30 to listen to my presentation on alternative theatre spaces and that it would benefit their studies. this was the first part of my experimental theatre. Dudley continues that Kane used lighting effects of cold blues and a single spot to enhance the eerie feeling of the performance, this in mind my lighting for this experimental theatre would consist of a
portable lighting rig with lights focused on a table of props and mannequins and an armchair placed in the centre of the room, the light used is a Par 64, a blue gel is applied for effect, the lights will have a full wash at beginning and end of the performance and when I sit in the chair the lights will cross fade to blue at 60% this will give a shadowy effect so the audience can hear me and see my outline only.
Greig (2001) adds that Kane struggles to keep her feelings intact, this is what I wanted to emulate in my performance, by simply being wound up brings on the voices in my head and my almost split personality. The students were met by me and introduced, before starting the false presentation. They were led into a traditional theatre space and I asked them questions about theatre spaces, I did however feel that this may not have been picked up by the camera as the recorder was at the back of them, the audience were answering me and I could hear one member saying she had heard this all before. They were led into the black box and told to go have a look around and shown how lighting can give simple or dramatic effect to a performance but how some practitioners such as Augusto Boal didn’t use props or lighting to create his forum theatre. Mitter & Shevtsova (2005). When the plant began touching the props on display the audience laughed but soon looked serious when I started shouting at her to stop, one girl became nervous and apologised for laughing. When I blindfolded the other plant and sat him in a chair they didn’t move, they just kept staring at me like I was some deranged person. This was good, this was what I wanted. There was a speaker in the room, but it wasn’t connected, I pretended I could hear noises coming from this and blamed a student for being connected and toying with me, she pleaded her innocence and assured me she hadn’t. she was correct, I was making them think I was hearing things, I ordered them all to take their phones out their bags and place both on the floor, now I didn’t think they would all do this but they did, and stood with their hands in the air for the duration of the performance. I sat in the chair in the centre of the room and expected the audience to move or put their hands down as I pretended to talk to the voice in my head. They didn’t flinch! I did feel the person recording could have moved around at this point to try gauge their faces, but he remained still, almost like I had him routed to the spot too. The blindfolded plant had not removed his phone and bag so I went over and demanded this be done, at this point the lights blacked out and you can hear a short scuffle and a gurgling noise. The lights come back up and he has blood on his neck and appears lifeless and my hands are covered in blood. I just stand back and thank the audience for attending the presentation. To my amazement they clap!! I didn’t expect this at all, I expected them to just laugh and attempt to leave. I asked for the camera to continue recording and explain that they were in fact witnessing my experimental theatre performance and asked them how they found it. The reactions I got were good. What I wanted to achieve, the audience complied with what I ordered feeling scared, shocked, and one student saying her hands were shaking and it set off her anxiety. One girl can be heard saying she wanted to leave and thought I was mad.

I feel overall quite satisfied with how the performance went despite having to change a large element of it on the day. One problem that did occur was during the blackout I was meant to grab a knife but I couldn’t feel where it was hidden in the bag so just held my bloodstained hands, to be fair no one questioned this but I knew it was a genuine mistake. I would have like the camera man to have changed angles during the performance to capture more angles and the audience close-up. I think this would have made for a better overall viewing and added more suspense maybe for the viewer. I had hoped to capture some still images from the video but sadly the video would not upload to my laptop and so this was not possible, although images of the set up are provided within this blog. The props were just a decoy for audience to look at but I did put in them some books that have influenced me throughout my learning journey and been referred to in my writings for other theatre modules. I would have also liked the audience to move around more, but I feel maybe this was because they thought they had to stand still and listen to me other than doing that. One audience member came into the black box after we started but this worked, and kick started the process of me changing into a cross mad person. The lighting technician commented after my performance saying even though she knew my plan she was shocked at how the audience reacted and she herself put her phone on the floor. She said she thought it worked great and was a sound performance despite me not being able to access the knife.  I hope that by watching me perform it will inspire other students with their studies and make them want to do well or better what I have done.

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a further picture of the stage production

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pic of the stage production, showing the unconventional seating and audience on the stage, see reference list for credit

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see reference list for photo credit.

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11, Appendix: including Ethics form and risk assessment via link.  

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11, Appendix: including Ethics form and risk assessment via link.  

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Improvised theatre: Allain & Harvie (2002) inform us that improvisation techniques are a very useful tool in acting and not only form part of a performance but are a learning curve for actors. used a lot in the comedy scene improvisation is favoured by many theatre practitioners including Richard Schechner Sarah Kane, Antonin Artaud and Konstantin Stanislavski. also used by Augusto Boal alongside his forum theatre. improvisations allows a performance to be adapted to its live unpredictable conditions, much how I anticipated and hope to use in my piece.

Other forms of experimental theatre have included, puppet shows such as punch and judy. Fairweather (2019) says experimental theatre is a way of encouraging the audience to think and participate and explore their ideas and thoughts, a thought provoking piece of theatre.

clips of Richard Schechners Diyonsus in 69.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs9fz_yJcMM.

Flash Mob at Macys New York.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va_doebD87M

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Allain P & Harvie J. (2006) The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance. Oxon. Routledge.

Arndorfer, J. (2009) Father of Flash Mobs on the Future of Viral. [Online] Available from: https://adage.com/article/ad-and-marketing-book-reviews/harper-s-bill-wasik-life-death-viral-culture/138314. [Accessed: October 30th, 2019].

Billington, A. (2012) E is for Experiment. [online] Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/jan/10/e-for-experiment-modern-drama.  [Accessed: 1st November 2019].

Braun, E. (1982) The Director and the Stage. London. Methuen.

Carlson, M. (1996) Performance a Critical Introduction. Oxon. Routledge.

Eckert, S (2017) What is Immersive Theatre? [Online] Available from: https://contemporaryperformance.com/2017/12/09/immersive-theater/. [Accessed: November 30th2019].

Fairweather, S (2019) Aesthetica, Experimental Theatre, Thought Provoking Ideas.  [Online] Available from: https://www.aestheticamagazine.com/experimental-theatre-provoking-ideas/. [Accessed: 30th November 2019].

Greig, D. (2001) Sarah Kane, Complete Plays.  London. Methuan Publishing Ltd.

Innes, C (1993) Avant Garde Theatre. London. Routledge

Ivie, D. (2014) Ode Richard Schechner. [Online] Available from; https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/richard-schechner-imagining-o. [Accessed 30th November 2019].

Mitter , S & Shevtsova M. (2005)  Fifty Key Theatre Directors. Oxon. Routledge.

McLeish, K (1997) Drama Classics, Jarry, Ubu. London. Nick Hern Books Limited

Nieweller, A. (2016) Do we Need Ethics? [Online] Available from: https://www.whistleblowersecurity.com/four-reasons-business-needs-code-ethics/. [Accessed: 25th November 2019].

Piepenbring, D (2015) An Inglorious Slop-Pail of a Play. [Online] Available from: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/09/08/an-inglorious-slop-pail-of-a-play/. [Accessed: November 2nd, 2019].

Rooney, D. (2004) ‘4.48 Psychosis’, Daily Variety, 285(19), p. 7. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=vsh&AN=14911369&site=eds-live [Accessed: 7 January 2020].

Schechner, R (2002) Performance Studies, An Introduction. London. Routledge.

Sierz, A (2001) the Element that Most Outrages: Morality Censorship and Sarah Kane’s Blasted. [Online] Available from: http://www.inyerfacetheatre.com/archive18.html. [Accessed: 2nd December 2019]

Strube, P. (2019) ‘Ethics and Ignorance’, Journal of the Australian Traditional-Medicine Society, 25(2), pp. 86–89. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=afh&AN=137322005&site=eds-live (Accessed: 13 December 2019)

Wasik, B. (2006) My Crowd, [Online] available from: https://harpers.org/archive/2006/03/my-crowd/2/. [Accessed: 1st November 2019].

Photograph credits from:

Bacalza, D (2009) Richard Schechner to Direct Lian Amaris Swimming to Spalding. [Online] Available from: https://www.theatermania.com/new-york/news/richard-schechner-to-direct-liandaacuten-amaris-sw_22563.html. [Accessed: December 2nd 2019].

Morgan, M (2008) Mick Taylor’s Blues Summit. [Online] Available from: http://www.whiskyfun.com/archivemay08-1.html. [Accessed 19th December 2019].

Rambler. (2013) Complacency and Complicity in Sarah Kane’s Blasted. [Online] Available from: http://www.literaryramblings.com/1000-books-in-10-years-vol-275-blasted-by-sarah-kane/. [Accessed: 5th November 2019].

Teeter, J. (2017) Dionysus In 17 at Bread & Water New York. [Online] Available from: http://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/blog/index.blog?topic_id=1059035.[Accessed: December 4th 2019].

Clarke, D (2020) [Accessed: 6th January 2020].

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When performing a piece of experimental theatre it is etiquette to consider ethics. (see appendix) Nieweler (2016) enlightens us to ethics stating ethics is a unit of standards implemented to oversee the supervision of a company of people. Each company has a code of ethics and this should be referred to regularly. There are several reasoning’s behind a code of ethics including to prove to employees you are a reputable and trustworthy company setting high standards and prospects. Showing integrity, people can look more favourably on a company that displays and follows a code of ethics. Ethics indicates how we should behave. A trustworthy reputable company that promotes fairness and a caring responsibility.  Strube (2019) gives an example of how ethics comes into play in everyday work places or schools saying that right and wrong come into play, not knowing or realising someone is wrong is known as akrasia and this can be used when someone has acted out of turn without knowing, it’s a method used by ethicists to depict culpability. An ethics form has been filed and reviewed stating full details of the performance before being passed and allowing the performance to go ahead.

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7, Unconventional planning coming together.

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7, Unconventional planning coming together.

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So why does this piece become unconventional? The audience will come along thinking they are watching a 15-minute talk on alternative theatre spaces. Not an experimental theatre piece. the piece isn't set on a stage.The age of the audience has been restricted to over 18 only, it may offend and will contain strong language. They will see the props and a small lighting rig set up in the room, everything will suggest how a room can be staged to show how any space can be made to appear like a stage or set and how performance can take place anywhere. The props really are not there to be used they are to fool the audience. A plant however will be in the room disguised as a one of the 3 mannequins, who will move unexpectedly and randomly  hopefully making the audience jump. This will be the start of the transformation into the short acting piece. Some improvisation techniques will need to be used here as the audience may not be willing to participate as instructed. (see appendix) I want them to think that I am feeling unwell and that something isn’t right, the plant (mannequin) has distracted not only the audience but me and causes me to become irrational and shout out at the audience. Taking on how Sarah Kane acted in 4:48 Psychosis how someone has pressed the self -destruct button says Greig (2001) the experimental theatre piece will then escalate into me thinking the audience are mocking me, laughing, talking about me, which they may well be. Kane liked to shock the audience, like them to imagine themselves within the performance. The aim for me then is to try carry on as though I am delivering a talk but the mind isn’t functioning as it should, as though there are too many distractions in the room, I will choose an audience member and pick them out telling them they are belittling me, I will pull a blindfold from a mannequin and insist they wear it through the rest of the performance. Whilst the props are included in this piece, I don’t want them to be thought of as part of the set, they are just there to trick and fool the audience. Par can light will be strategically placed so they are focused on a chair that will be sat in a corner of the room. A voice in my head that only I can hear will tell me to go sit on the chair, the lights should create just a silhouette shape upon myself so the audience can see my outline but not my face though they can hear sounds and whispers I will be making, another plant in the audience will ridicule me and tell me I am sick and twisted and that I am ruining a completely good presentation making me worse. This will culminate in the lighting going off for a few seconds and when coming back on they will see me with blood on my hands and the person who has been taunting me will have their throat slashed and too be covered in blood. It is hoped that the audience will think I am indeed suffering from some sort of depressive mental state and react towards this, they may want to leave they may laugh but this is exactly the responses I need to make this work. I need them to react, even if they just whisper to each other, this is a reaction. After the performance it is hoped they will think about what they have seen, not as a crazy student trying to impress but that a student has performed a piece and sent home a message that will make them think about mental illness, how they react in a situation they are not normally put in and how it has made them feel. I hope to ask the audiences reaction and feedback after the performance which will be recorded as part of the 15-minute piece and used in an evaluation of the performance using their critical analysis for reference. It is envisaged that hopefully the audience will be shocked, may even want to leave or feel uncomfortable. They may feel emotive or may laugh or think the whole thing is a practical joke, some I hope will show emotions or behave they wouldn’t normally. Some may not have even been in this sort of situation before so may react in a way that could even shock me or their peers. This is all part of the experimental theatre techniques used by the likes of Jarry, Kane and Schechner and continues to be used by many more daily.

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The black box room at Grimsby university is a smallish size space that can be utilised for dance, drama or teaching, my aim, to fool an audience into thinking they are attending a talk based on alternative theatre spaces. The intention is to show people how an average room can be transformed with props, lighting and sound to deliver a theatrical performance. The audience will not be seated as the room will be attired with props so they can walk around and envision how the space works.

This experimental piece will touch upon Sarah Kane’s techniques of how she engages the audience so they can understand the importance of a topic, using shock tactics and making them believe they could be in the actors position and uses some immersive theatre techniques. Immersive theatre is described by Eckert, (2007) as a performance that can accentuate the significance of a space and its construction in order to create a solid and sensory environment making for an individual experience for the audience. Taking this on board I want this piece to be alluring to the audience, be personal and intimate. Improvisation techniques will also be applied (see appendix)

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After a lesson on Sarah Kane and her plays which Greig (2001) describes her style as extraordinary and theatrically explosive allowing audiences to see themselves in the actor and the play, this was the case with her play Blasted. Sierz (2001) alleges Kane who dies aged 28 takes the glamour out of acting, stripping it down and using shock tactics to make the audience listen, to wake up their morals and send out a message. Sierz believed Kane used a disturbing way of exploring issues, sexual and graphic images focus on things such as war, or gender specific roles and how the media can make a mockery out of news and use this to manipulate. Kane knew the theatre could be a way of the public gaining an understanding of the justice needed in a community, being able to make a change and give out a message via the arts.

With this in mind and using experience from previous theatre performances it was my intention as the actor to make the audience wonder what on earth was going on but sending out a clear message. Choosing a mental breakdown to be the main catalyst.
link to 4.48 Psychosis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4eAJVlgCdo&t=1403s

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Through researching experimental theatre and watching short clips, the preliminary idea to emerge was that of a flash-mob. this idea of experimental theatre made popular in 2003 when Bill Wasik congregated in Claire’s accessories store in America hoping to gather his audience and create a huge reaction as part of a social experiment. Arndorfer (2009). This flash mob failed as word got around to staff of such a gathering hoping to cause a potential scene and the New York police arrived before the flash Mob had chance to begin. Undeterred Wasik went on to create a different Flash Mob in Macy’s department store, the experiment says Wasik (2006) was a success with 200 people informing Macy’s staff they were all cohabiting together and wishing to purchase a love rug. (see appendix). Flash mobs of 200 people are a grand scale, and would I practically be able to gather a large enough crowd in order to make an impact and create a statement whilst keeping momentum successful for 15 minutes. This was a question toyed with and so concluded me to abandon the flash mob idea and continue researching experimental theatre ideas and techniques finding a suitable alternative that would be the catalyst for producing a statement performance.
see appendix for flash mob video.

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3, Other forms of experimental theatre and practitioners.

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3, Other forms of experimental theatre and practitioners.

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Another form of experimental theatre comes from street theatre which was devised in the late 1960’s by R, G Davis who was a member of the San Francisco mime troupe, he formed the Guerrilla girls who used theatre as a way of sending out political messages to a much broader audience in a non-theatrical environment. Carlson, M (1996). Braun, (1982) claims that Erwin Piscator was also an advocate and follower of Avant Garde and implemented this into his work including his projections, he staged political productions aiming to get clarity and peace in Germany whilst working there.

Director Richard Schechner was also a follower of the Avant Garde experimental theatre, Ivie (2014) remarks on how his work with the Soho based performance group in 1967 was twinned with the likes of Monty Pythons flying circus and how his performance of Dionysius in 69 brings the audience and acting space together. Shechner (2002) gives his thoughts on experimental theatre announcing that what is experimental in the arts is considered normal in other fields such as concerts, sports etc stating that experimental theatre is s good way to judge how people react in social experiments. this is how I will gauge my performance, on the audience reactions to my situation.

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This blog will evaluate what experimental theatre is, where it originated and how it has evolved over the years and touch upon some of the practitioners that used this from when it first began to modern day. it will also include the thought process, planning and research on the development of experimental theatre concluding with a critical evaluation of the performance with interviews and photographs.

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Everyone defines experimental theatre differently, sometimes unconventional remarks Billington (2012). Innes (1993) details that Avant Garde was the first form of experimental theatre and is labelled as any type of art in a non-traditional form or setting including that of a performance. McLeish (1997) explains how theatre practitioner Alfred Jarry born in 1873 was the man who developed this form of theatre, adding that Jarry inspired generations of theatre practitioners, writers and painters and say  his work existed in a lunatic world and how Jarry held the most liberated and creative imagination. moving to Paris to study Jarry had already taken a love of writing and penned a play with his school friends based upon his teachers called The Poles, this was later re-written into King Ubu (Ubu-Roi) which is the first play of 3 in the cycle.   It was these plays in particular King Ubu that became the most influential Avant Garde concept of the new century. Piepenbring (2015) remarks that when Ubu Roi made its stage debut in December 1896 it was said to have offended most spectators who watched, labelling it a mockery of civilisation. A parody of Shakespeare's Mcbeth where Ubu kills a king and goes onto a whole host of obscenities throughout that play, the actors were said to have worn masks and the props made of cardboard with a plain backdrop. Jarry also enjoyed writing about puppet performances and wrote an outstanding paper on marionettes. It is said that Jarry used to like making his actors act like puppets. Influencing Augusto Boal, Jerzy Grotowski and Antonin Artaud to name a few Alfred Jarry has established the roots of experimental theatre.

Some more recent variations of Avant Garde theatre include the Monty Pythons Flying Circus, Airplane and the series Naked Gun all airing in the 1980s.  (monty Pythons Flying Circus Clips )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnciwwsvNcc&list=PLetlg_Y42u8Q2M7ZEQoPpS_tScnkMosNj