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The reason I decided to choose to focus on such a controversial topic was because of the nature of our social experiment. It is a matter that a lot of people nowadays have an opinion on and I felt that it wouldn't be too difficult to get them to voice how they feel and what they think. Another reason would be my own personal interest on the matter and what people think in todays society. I wanted to find out how many people would agree and disagree with the subject matter and what they truly thought.

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Erekat Yousef. (2013) The bullying experiment available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EisZTB4ZQxY [Accessed on 10/11/19]

Nationaltheatre. (2019). Five of the best... Sarah Kane plays | National Theatre. [online] Available at: https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/blog/five-best-sarah-kane-plays [Accessed 15/11/19]

Piepenbring, D. (2019). An Inglorious Slop-pail of a Play. [online] The Paris Review. Available at: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/09/08/an-inglorious-slop-pail-of-a-play/ [Accessed 15/11/19].

Rivlin M. Alice (1974). Social experiments; their uses and limitations. Vol 97. No 6. Page 28 [Accessed 17/11/19].

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This is where the acting took place, sat at the middle green table

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This picture shows where the camera was set up

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This is where the second attempt took place

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Sarah Kane was a well-known playwright, her unique take on writing plays baffled audiences and critics alike. Sarah only managed to write five plays in her short lived career with the most famous one of them being 'Blasted' which premiered in 1995 in London. Blasted looks at a woman named cate and a man named Ian who is made out to be clearly homophobic, racist and sexist. In his attempt to seduce her one thing leads to another and suddenly you are in the center of a Bosnian war scene. The plays use of aggressive war acts such as cannibalism, rape and abuse take place during these scenes. Sarah Kane's plays have often received harsh and negative critique from the press, Jack tinker with the Dailey mail called it "Disgusting feast of filth" (Nationaltheatre.org.uk, 2019). Sarah Kane's work has always baffled and in someway or another provoked a reaction from the audiences that have watched it, making it a prime experimental theatre example.

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My experimental theatre social experiment made a few hits and a few misses due to complications, either unforeseen or poorly prepared for. The first attempt was set in the corner lounge, the first challenge encountered was whereabouts the camera should be placed. The decision to place the camera on the other side of the room was made, this meant that the reactions could all be seen however at the price of being able to hear what is being said. Getting to the location earlier and spending more time to get there and wait for people to settle in would be a good way to counteract this issue. Apart from audio the first attempt went rather well, after the victim stood up and stormed out the homophobic actor proceeded to sit in the place the victim previously sat and had a conversation with the affected table sat down next to them. After receiving feedback from the actor, they revealed what was discussed during the victims absence. A man sat at the table actually agreed with the actor and said that “He wishes that they would not shove it down our throat”, the lady sat at the same table said “It’s agreeable because of the science behind it, I don’t agree with the aggressive approach”. After receiving this feedback an interview was conducted, the man refused and preferred not to be interviewed however the woman happily complied. She said during the interview that it was somewhat agreeable and there’s a science that specifies two genders and no more.
The second and final attempt was set around the corner in the atrium, the same scene was acted out again however the camera would be within ear distance so it can pick up the audio just fine this time. The actor playing the victim sat down and the homophobic bully approached like before and began the argument, this time it caught the attention of two girls on the table right behind us. After about one minute they decided to get involved, this was around the time the victim actor stormed off. They both confronted the bully asking her why it was any of her business and that she’s being ridiculous, they went back and forth until the two girls decided that they didn’t want to hear it anymore and disconnected from the conversation. Both of the affected girls from that table agreed to an interview. The first girl said that she thought that it was an extremely outdated way of thinking and the way she was expressing her point of view was quite aggressive. She continued in saying that she believes strongly that absolutely everyone has the right to be and live however they choose and should not be subjected to discrimination at all. The second girl made very similar points and had similar views, she explained that it made her feel like there are actually still people this day and age that do have a problem with the issues raised and simply cannot live and let live. Both girls explained that they were just finishing up eating their lunch when the argument took place. They both explained that they support the LGBTQ community and felt almost obliged to step in and defend it.
The piece did as it was intended however not on a scale that it perhaps could have or should have, this is due to a few things that went wrong or not to plan.
Firstly the plan was to stage three overall scenes on three separate days, instead it happened on the same day and only twice. This was due to the actors scheduling issues and there not being enough of an audience when the piece actually got underway, hence only two different audiences. To prevent this from happening should this be attempted again, the actors should decide on a clear date and time and arrive on location before the potential audience.
Another thing that did not go to plan was the content that the actors argued about, the plan was to have a plant in the first two and discuss a different topic in the third but instead it just ended up being the same run through twice, this was due to not having an available actor to use as a plant. To avoid this issue from happening again the actors should spend more time learning the scripts given.
To conclude my experimental theatre social experiment was a success however could have been much bigger and acquired much more feedback from a larger audience. It extracted different reactions and points of view from several different people and at some point they all had something to say. The interviews conducted were a really good insight into how some people may still feel in today’s society and was extremely interesting to hear.

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For my take on an experimental theatre piece I considered doing several things. At first I wanted to do a flash mob in the atrium of the university, this would involve me coming up with a dance, recruiting the dancers and teaching them the dance and then getting permission to move all of the furniture. I eventually decided against this however due to a few reasons, the first being that I could not get the permission to have all of the furniture moved out of the way at a suitable time for the performance to be performed. Another contributing factor was that the dance would have to be fifteen minuets long and that is a very long, tedious and tiring time to dance.
After finally ruling out the idea of a flash mob I decided I liked the idea of a social experiment. Social experiments are allover the internet and some of them have weighted topics attached to them. A Youtuber named Fouseytube whos channel has 10.6 million subscribers was my inspiration for this experimental theatre piece. He uploaded a video to his channel named 'The Bullying Experiment' which managed to gain an enormous 27 million views. In this video himself and a friend of his decided to go out into the public and act out a physical bullying scene where he would abuse and manhandle his friend in front of total strangers that were members of the public. The aim of this social experiment was to see how many people would react to this kind of behavior and if any of them would get involved and help the bully victim. Social experiments are really good ways to gather data from the general public, for example if they counted doing this experiment in front of 100 people and only 50 people were to get involved this kind of data would aid with research. For my own social experiment I decided to go in a similar direction but with an even more controversial topic attached to it. My social experiment would explore the general public’s general opinion on the LGBTQ community and some of the challenges that they face everyday. For my experimental theatre social experiment I decided that I would stage three different arguments, in three different locations on three different days. The first would be an argument that starts from an actor playing a highly homophobic character and starting an altercation over something LGBTQ that they see on someone’s phone, not liking it and feeling that they must air their opinions in an aggressive matter. During this altercation I would have another actor working as a plant to help stir things up, in this first attempt they would come over and disagree with the homophobic behavior and try and extract a reaction from those watching. The second run would be in a different spot on a different day but would run the same as before with the difference of the plant actor agreeing with the homophobic point of view, this was to see if this could provoke anyone nearby and to get them to share their opinion. The final time would be again very similar apart from day and location it takes place. This time however the topic discussed will be slightly different, instead of discussing LGBTQ rights it would cover the idea of the gender spectrum, something that is incredibly controversial in today’s society.
Each altercation should last for around five minutes each for a total of fifteen, they will include the victim of the abuse standing up and leaving to see if that provoked any more attention and will mainly focus on the homophobic actor.

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There are several different types of performance that all fall under the umbrella term of experimental theatre as nowadays it is less taboo and can be enjoyed more. Nowadays people generally enjoy controversial topics more so and due this, combined with the growth of the internet there are more ways to perform and watch experimental theatre.
One example of a modern adaptation of experimental theatre would be pranks. Over the years pranks have become extremely popular on internet platforms such as YouTube and these videos once posted can easily amass millions and millions of views just of people simply being pranked. The pranks in the videos may vary from gross pranks to scary ones, the reaction being the most important factor.
Another very popular form of experimental theatre in todays age would be social experiments. Social experiments have had a major increase in popularity over the years, this is also thanks to the use of the internet and YouTube. Social experiments aim to challenge the audience and usually focus on controversial topics such as any kind of politics, stereotypical issues, discrimination issues and many more social problems. Some examples of this would be to have two actors act something out in public for example stage a bullying incident or act of discrimination and see how or if the audience/general public react. The audience may be a knowing audience or an invisible one, the main thing is how they choose to react, these social experiments are also a great way to gather statistics and raise awareness.
Another example of modern days adaptation of experimental theatre would be flash mobs. Flash mobs are large dances that are danced in public areas to surprise an unsuspecting audience. The usually begin with one dancer starting the routine on their own to music and then gradually more and more dancer join in and the performance becomes much bigger and better. Flash mobs usually aim to surprise the general public, make a statement or pay tribute to certain artists.
Another example of experimental theatre would be absurdist theatre, a type of theatre that enhances the absurdity of the human existence and aims to confuse the audience. Surfacing just after the world war in 1950, this type of theatre toys with the emotions of the audience and aims to confuse them with meaningless dialogue and random scenes, this type of theatre is still very popular today.

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Alfred Jarry was a French playwright who lived between 1873 and 1907 in France. His most notable work was the UBU plays, specifically UBU ROI. Ubu roi was a play written by Alfred Jarry that both opened and closed on December 10th, 1896. It follows the story of Père ubu, his family and the crimes that he commits. Père ubu is considered to be a coward and a gluttonous, greedy character and throughout the play this becomes more and more true. In the play Père murders the royal family of Poland in an attempt to ascend to the throne himself and is ultimately willing to sacrifice anything and anyone to reach his goal. The controversial nature of this play caused the French audience to riot when it was first performed with reports stating that “the audience shake their fists at one another” (Piepenbring, D. (2019)) . Alfred harries work was not recognized properly as absurdist theatre and celebrated until the early nineteenth century. There were a handful of sequels written which were translated and then referred to as the ‘UBU plays’. Ubu Roi was the most popular of the series however and has even been  referred to as a parody to Shakespeare's Macbeth (1606). The Ubu Roi play was the first successful attempt at experimental theatre, the public did not perceive it very well in the beginning however thought time this style of theatre became more popular.

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This blog will look at experimental theatre, it will examine where it came from, how it has evolved and who is responsible for pioneering the idea. This blog will also follow the process and evaluate my own experimental theatre piece, from the influences to the ideas and the execution. It will also include an evaluation of what happened and how successful it was.

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Experimental theatre, also referred to as avant-garde theatre, first originated around the late 19 hundreds when a man named Alfred Jarry introduced his UBU plays. This type of theatre was almost very taboo and commonly rejected by the public audiences in the very beginning, it has however since evolved and become more popular as theatre has progressed. This may be due to the very nature of experimental theatre plays, usually they are performed and watched differently to normal theatre and present weighted topics such as political topics or anything controversial and attempt to shock or stir the audience.
Experimental theatre is performed differently with different factors when compared to traditional theatre. It does not require a stage and theatre or any of the of the special technology they bring, costumes and props or even a knowledgeable audience that knows they are watching a performance. Experimental theatre can be performed on the street, hence street theatre and just about anywhere else. It usually aims to provoke a reaction from the audiences watching, this is due to the controversial topics that can be covered, not all experimental theatre is to cause a commotion however, some forms can be simply to pleasantly entertain for example flash mobs. Experimental theatre can have two different types of audiences. An audience is a person or group of people that will witness your performance piece, a normal audience will know that they are attending a performance and somewhat know what to expect. An invisible audience is the opposite, they will not know that they are watching a performance and can mostly just be members of the everyday public. Essentially experimental theatre is a style of theatre that pushes the boundaries that traditional theatre cannot, this i by changing audience, location and topic.