Lautes Lego, A Retrospective

A few weeks ago I tried out another form of theatrical weirdness. Titled "Lautes Lego" and performed by the one-night-only D.I.Y. Theatre Collective, I asked my audience to build their own scenery.


Daisy Duke's Dumpster Den--a redneck roadhouse for a silly hillbilly scene.


You guessed it. With Duplo.

There is something wonderfully coarse about Duplo. Even the most inspired artistic creation by a professional sculptor looks delightfully clunky rendered in the medium. It is very difficult to build a Duplo structure with any finesse or precision, which is precisely why I chose it.


Insight Farm--for hospitality and chickens

Audience members offered a pile of building blocks intended for 3-5 year olds will not feel the need to create anything highly detailed or fancy, which allows simple form and function to shine through. Five minutes with the blocks, laughing and re-shaping, and they've come up with a good rough outline of what they want. This is useful for several reasons--it saves time, but it also offers everyone the confidence to make something creative without having to worry about it being a masterpiece. The simplicity and relative fail-safety of the medium encourages participation among persons who would otherwise feel intimidated. (sticks of modelling clay or paints and brushes would not only be more daunting, but the performers would have less of a consistent product to refer to. also, they generate waste.)


Happy Tower-Retirement Centre for the Stars! (setting for an existential crisis)


Many audience members took delight in constructing a set, but were reluctant to give it a name or theme. The building part was much more fun than thinking. This became more apparent as the night progressed and the audience became even more interested in drinking.


The Cyclops House of Seduction, made by a couple who wanted a raunchy piece.

This has been an ongoing problem in my work.

The performers, in keeping with the DIY nature of the scenery, also asked the audience to come up with first and final lines of sketches, a time limit, and asked that they select an improv game or technique to use, such as "one performer cannot talk," "do the entire scene in reverse" or "do the entire scene as if you have no clothes on." This helped form the structure for the action and allowed each piece to be tailored to the audience's fancy.

It was also needlessly difficult.

The audience, while eager to build their own sets, approached the line-writing task with reluctance and didn't want to choose an acting style at all. I think the reasons for this were many and various. While the Lego was straightforward and provided its own inspiration to a large extent, the idea of writing lines or constructing elements of play seemed too much like work. After the glee of creating a structure and seeing it projected ten times its size on the back wall, audience members wanted the performers to magically be inspired by it and create something on their own. And occasionally they could--if the structure was interesting and sensible enough. Other constructions, like the aptly-named "The Horse with a Chicken on Top and Other Stuff" (not pictured) offered the performers less than nothing to go on, meaning not only was what they came up with uninteresting, but it left them annoyed.

And therein lies the most important hitch with DIY-style theatre. Anything which relies on any creativity from the audience is highly unreliable. There are plenty of people out there who just don't have a creative bone in their bodies. Moreover, there are plenty of people who come to the theatre expecting to be passively entertained, which means if they're called upon to contribute in any meaningful way they're at a loss. They may catch on after a few minutes of diving around in their heads (think. Think!) but anyone suddenly thrown into not just an interactive environment, but a proactive role, may find themselves a little overwhelmed.

I think, if I choose to try Lego again, I'll leave it just at that. I'll have my performers prepared with a selection of scenes, or at least mix-and-match roles, that they can jump into when given a relevant set. Last time it called for barnyard activity, industry, espionage, rednecks, and lust, which is a good start. We could throw in scenes concerning retail, outer space, castles, and sporting events just to be on the safe side, but it makes more sense (and speeds processes) to prepare the performers with something they know they can do rather than expect them to come up with something brilliant on the spot.

For my own records, the rest of this post is a list of what audiences wrote--their lines and set titles. Some of the titles include suggestions for what the scene should be about, others are just the places.

Set Titles

Insight Farm
Daisy Duke's Dumpster Den
Donkey's Dockyard
Jaunty Farm. (Find the traveller's baby!)
Plane Train Crane. (the Russians are trying to blow it up!)
Aldwych, London. The Docklands. (Smugglers, Pirates, and the Crown Jewels)
(yet another) Oil Spill
Happy Tower--Retirement Centre to the Stars!
The Cyclops House of Seduction
The Horse with a Chicken on Top and Other Stuff

Lines (Audience--first and last are coupled)

I promised myself I wouldn't cry today.
Yes, I suppose the pool would be best.

I'm the last of my species, actually.
Adieu, adieu, adieu. Remember me!

Pluck me, please, treat me like your toy guitar.
He walked in, aghast to find her rolling around in the buff with her goldfish.

Mmm, cauliflower cheese.
You'll have to take me to the cells, officer.

That's a nice shoe emporium.
And other stuff.


Lines (Preset by actors, if audience would rather just select one)

Just because you've taken your top off doesn't mean I'll take you back.

If you've got anything to say, say it now.

I can't believe I ate the whole thing.

I don't love you any more.

The End.

I'll be back.

This reminds me of a Lady Gaga song.

Wait--if you're here, who's in the car?

So, are we going or not?

Just put the gun down.

I said 20 grams, not 50!

I'm sorry, it's all my fault.

Lautes Licht: Underwater(loo): In Hindsight

Audience-led and designed theatre. The next logical step in the evolution of interactive performance. Good idea?

sorta.

When I set out to study audience interactivity 9 months ago I had no idea that I would be gestating a concept that, while innocent in guise, would disturb me so very much. But here I am, nearly a year later, mother of a form of theatre that gives the audience the power to abuse performers. My performers.

And the scary part is, they use it.

Even perfectly good and generous people take the opportunity to cause harm. Gentle souls enter the room and within moments begin smacking the talent with light, giggling with fiendish glee. Many run, wild-eyed, to grab their friends and show them the sado-masochistic game they've found.

Remember the theme? Red Light Night! A chance for us to act like prostitutes. Most acts were sexy and suggestive dances and acrobatic feats. (or in the case of the March Performance Project, "provocatively tasteful" dances) Lautes Licht, on the other hand, is actually a form of prostitution, so I didn't feel the need to belabour the point by doing anything raunchy.

For the most part, every performance was a completely mundane task. Eating, drinking, running, hopping, putting on make-up, dancing like you would in your kitchen, and so forth. And at low lighting, most of these actions were inoffensive, even pleasant. Recounting a story, munching a loaf of bread, sipping some wine. But if you turned the lights up, it became less enjoyable. She's no longer idly stroking her arm, she's slapping it. Hard. Idly shifting her weight becomes running full-out, sweating, in red spiked heels. Putting on make-up becomes the frantic daubing of a woman who will never be pretty enough for herself.


All the while, the actors stay the course, doing what they're told by the objective power of the light.

I shouldn't feel bad. The actors are not only all competent, talented veterans of this interface, but they came up with their characters and actions themselves. The woman who is alternately bruising her arm and gorging herself on bread not only volunteered for this, she worked hard to develop it in relation to the dramaturgy of the piece. The girl who has set herself the task of jumping in place is only grimacing in pain at high intensity because she wants to communicate to the audience the power they are happily abusing. The actress who is running as fast as she can in heels...demonstrates nothing but commitment to her art.

They set their own limits. They knew what they could do for ten minutes at a stretch. They knew it was hard work but only for one night. They knew. They volunteered. They did exactly what they chose.

Sheez I'm a horrible person.

At the end of the second performance (we had time for 3) we called it off. Believe it or not, not because the actors were exhausted and in pain, but because I didn't trust the audience. Half way through the show they started getting belligerent and stopped contributing to the piece in any meaningful way. (this may have been caused by the venue's refreshment sales, which were primarily alcoholic in nature.) Dimmer operation, which had earlier worked through a sort of bandwagon effect to orchestrate the performance, dissolved into meaningless jerking and flashing. In short, the audience was enjoying it too much.

Patrons began to push into performers' spaces, mocking, mimicking, and eventually even stepping in to replace them when they rotated. One such booze-addled punter occupied the arm-slapper's space and readily picked up where she had left off--gently stroking in the dim, smacking himself hard when it got bright. A train wreck of a woman with heavily shadowed eyes gyrated under the stairs, trying to sexily respond to the light, while a real actress grinned and grimaced overhead.

I really can't tell if this girl wanted to demonstrate to the show creators that she got it, or if she missed the point entirely. Yes, you are behaving like a real prostitute, dear--you're allowing yourself to be manipulated and controlled in a sexual way. Good job! We were demonstrating that point, as well as the harmful effects of submission and abuse of power without grinding our pelvises on the wrought iron, but you're communicating it well too. (Honestly I think she just couldn't pass up an opportunity to subordinate herself to the whims of random strangers, but I'm a little hopeful.)

Some very interesting responses came out during this strangeness, though--audience members' attitudes toward taking the helm were many and various. Allow me to share some direct quotations:

"I fucking love being in control!" (plaid-shirted Australian male)

"I don't want to control it. I'll be too sadistic. I'll just make her run." patron turns light on and watches performer run in heels for about 15 seconds. Turns it off. "See? I'm too cruel." Steps away.

"I was playing for a while, but then she looked so tired I felt bad, so I stopped. But then there was someone else waiting to try. I wanted to stop him." (curvy blonde woman in a short skirt with a silk flower in her hair. Early showing.)

"Check it out--you can make her eat! Shove it in there! Omigod!" (tall man in a band name t-shirt)

"Ow, this really hurts!" (one of four hipsters who had begun smacking themselves in time with the performer.)

"Holy fuck, she just keeps going!" (curvy blonde woman in a short skirt with a silk flower in her hair. Late showing.)

Meanwhile, around the space, dozens of audience members were dancing along with our Chilean, trying to learn his sexy, energetic choreography; in the back men were challenging one another to drink along with the performer at the top of the stairs (who had water in her wine bottle); they were closing in around a performer to listen to her describe, in explicit detail, a date that had gone south when her lover asked her to fuck another man so he could watch. They were, in all honesty, thoroughly engaged. They were also completely trashed.

The most significant reactions, though, were from inactive patrons. While most used at least a brief time to jerk the performers from bright to black quickly while on the boards, while their hands were not occupied, viewers became staunchly defensive of the performers.

"Stop that! You'll hurt her!" "Let him rest--he's exhausted." "What the hell's this about? It's just making me uncomfortable. Why do they keep going?" "If you don't back off she's gonna come over here and smack you."

No. No she isn't. Because that's the point of this little exercise. Given the opportunity to abuse someone with no consequences, you'll take it. Won't you?

The piece gave some people pause to reflect. And many stood in the back or the middle to watch the piece as a whole while others manipulated the board. They sipped their drinks and moved their eyes to each performer in turn, drawing connections among them, writing a story in their heads. They would listen to the stories and watch how they related to the other performers pushing themselves harder and harder to appease the incessant demands of the public.

As soon as they got it, some people felt disgusted--both with the piece and with themselves. I call that success. Others didn't get it, or got it and figured it was still their only shot to command another person so they might as well use it. However it was internalized, it worked, it gave the actors a workout, and it kept me thinking. Not a bad day at work.

Lautes Licht: Underwater(loo)

This Saturday (the 21st) the Lautes Licht team will be working in the tunnels under Waterloo Station for the Old Vic's "Red Light Night." This is a 4 hour arts club immediately following the Tunnels' much-touted "Dark Carnival." It will be a loud and raunchy extravaganza of Red Light District themed-and inspired art, performance, music, and more.

For those familiar with my interpretation of the piece, you may not be surprised to find that I think this could not be a more ideal niche for the show. Lautes Licht is the most disturbing PG-rated piece I've ever created--an opportunity to manipulate and exploit other human beings in an eerily non-sexual way. The cast will be clad in frumpy and comfortable pyjamas and trainers while the audience will likely arrive in corsets and fishnets. This works in my head, in a funny sort of way--hopefully it will come across well for the viewers and operators too. Here are these free people willingly clad in the constrictive, restrictive, and frequently bondage-inspired garb of the sex industry, pulling the puppet strings of perfectly ordinary people in attire usually reserved for Buffy marathons.

Except the performers are actually all professionally beautiful people under the t-shirts and flannel trousers, while the audience is actually comprised of ordinary folks with sensible jobs out breaking the monotony of their daily lives for one deviant night. Audiences are out to be entertained, to escape themselves, and debauchery-themed club nights fill a vital role to that end. If these leather-clad Lady Marmalades were like this all the time everyone in the office would be driven to distraction. Everyone knows they're playing dress-up. But sometimes even your friendly and helpful receptionist needs to glam up and indulge her trashy side in a loud, dark place. It's edgy. It's dangerous. It's a well-researched, medically-endorsed cathartic experience.

Art clubs provide a space for responsible adults to look sexy, think with their genitals, and be bad in a supervised and controlled environment. They're a place to have all the dirty fun you imagined the cool kids were having when you were a teenager, except with less risk of getting caught by your mum, arrested, or pressured into sneaking off with that popular guy who expects a blow-job but thinks pleasing a girl is disgusting and degrading.

The point is, you go to the art club knowing full well that, after spending Sunday nursing an expensive hangover with burnt toast and instant coffee, you'll put your tie on and go back to your real life--the same old responsible, upwardly-mobile you.

It is an ideal place to bring a piece of theatre that requires an audience that is willing to manipulate and unapologetically jerk on willing strangers. Particularly when they get a good look at them and realize that they're being handed beautiful, talented willing strangers to command. Not beautiful like a painted prostitute in a picture window, but beautiful in that wakes-up-with-dribble-and-hair-plastered-to-her-face-and-she's-still-hotter-than-you-with-a-makeover-on-a-thin-day way. Beautiful, in short, in burlap.

They're wearing pyjamas to distinguish themselves from the audience, and to showcase the way manipulation is always disgusting, even when it's in completely mundane ways. And these people you're playing like an accordion? They volunteered for this to show you a side of yourself you may not want to see. But the jammies may serve a more sinister purpose, as a reminder to the false-eyelashed audience that for some, even real life is sexy.

Considerations

"Perfect"
Presented by Theatre With Milk, Please
Dilston Grove Gallery, Southwark Park, London
July 14-16, 2010

A 30-minute exploration of post-feminist theory through the medium of interpretive badminton. While preparing for the game two women contrast themselves and each other against society's unrealistic and often contradictory ideals of feminine perfection.

"Perfect" is a light touch theatrical interpretation of Naomi Wolf's 1989 authoritative text "The Beauty Myth." It gently prods the Big Issues that have surrounded women and girls since antiquity: weight, attractiveness, strength and submission, ownership of sexuality, and the power of religion and men to pit us against one another in our desperate plea to be the best woman, and thereby win.

While it may raise a few eyebrows it does not raise any new questions or attempt to answer extant ones which now plague women more than ever. It simply and artfully demonstrates that the concerns are still current and felt throughout womankind.

The themes expressed are not lost on the audience, and the piece is executed with artistry and precision. But the ending leaves me wondering why. While I do not expect or particularly want theatre to teach, I do want it to offer me something in return for having watched it. I have no patience for that which seeks merely to "Raise awareness." I am aware. I am a woman, and the men in the audience know women too. To suggest that the content of the piece accomplishes or reveals anything new would be to ignore all feminist art and performance of the past century. It left me expecting resolution, suggestion, hope..or even despair. I would have settled for hopelessness if it was your sentiment. But it ended with mere status quo. A return to the outside world.

I'm hesitant to encourage theatre makers to have a clear and distinct idea they want to communicate to audiences when they create a piece. Audiences these days are rarely impressed with the ideas you have to offer, and would rather have the ability to digest that which they see seasoned with their own experiences and inclinations. This is intriguing in a way, but also a useless pain in the ass. The conversation with the audience has begun to follow thus: "This is my idea." say you. "That's a nice idea." says the audience. "do you agree with my idea?" ask you. "Not at all, but it reminded me of something, which I suppose has merit." says the audience. "Oh." say you. "I suppose I'll respect your assessment, or lack thereof. At least I expressed myself." "And at least I got something out of it, even if my interpretation had nothing to do with your intention." smiles the audience, sipping the wine that you really couldn't afford to offer to everyone but did anyway because you felt obligated to (and secretly hoped it would soften any reviewers' comments regarding your piece.)

All that said, you do need to have a point. Otherwise it is just art--meaningless, useless art. Like a still life or :cringe: Cubism. An exercise in intellectual masturbation. A stylized reflection of normal life--just as confusing and devoid of direction, but with better choreography.

Sometimes I really hate theatre. Sometimes I'm in awe of it. I never really feel qualified to do it. Even if I have an idea, a point, a valuable lesson to teach or at the very least cathartic experience to offer--surely everyone else has already done it, and better. I'm a trite old has-been from the moment I set out. And to a great extent I'm not willing to put my personal reputation on the line to learn if my work is worth seeing, or may be someday. I'm a big chicken who doesn't want to establish the point from which I'll progress.

It is with this area of my personality, then, that I can applaud work created by my classmates. Even if it's not great, even if it drags the envelope back a few stages, at least they have the balls to put it out there and get it watched, field critique, and develop from there. So while no, I did not enjoy Perfect, and found that it represented the symptoms of a social concern but did not address the causes, I applaud the fact that they made it and put it out there, a standalone show, a real piece, a real event. It takes guts.

Reflections on recent work

I've been busying myself with lighting lately for several companies who would have otherwise been up a creek. I wish to stress that I have not been these companies' standing designer and had not engaged with their methodologies or artistic foci at any earlier point in the process, so while I did give each show my full attention I was not a full member of their groups. I chose, arranged, hung, focused, and programmed their lights, but ensured that the scenographers within the groups created the looks, timing, and dramatic impact that they believed would best support their pieces. It was a rather awkward position to be in, as the tech/artist/peer trusted to save the day without taking over. Lighting is something I know how to do, but I am neither an expert in nor an enthusiastic student of it.

Which may strike you as funny, seeing as my personal piece is entitled Loud Light.

My focus this year has been on scenography's interactive potential. I don't merely want to immerse the audience in the landscape of the piece, I want to give them the ability to change it, and see what they do with that power. With most scenic elements--set, dressing, props, etc--that has the potential to be very interesting, but very, very expensive. If people think they are invited to break shit, they probably will. (Anyone remember Yoko Ono's Cut Piece?) So a cheap and difficult-to-break alternative is, of course, lighting. You put the instruments in the air, keep the audience away from ladders, and let them screw around with things in a safe and repeatable manner.

And repeatability is no trivial matter. If after the fourth participant has had a swing at it the changeable scenic element is busted beyond repair, or reshaped to something else entirely, it becomes a different artwork. It becomes a study of the object itself, and how it is malleable. To study the audience, you must allow each person to have the same shot at the piece as everyone else. Otherwise each progressive turn is a new and more challenging handicap. So, while perhaps giving the audience Lego bricks, a camera, and a projection screen to make their own set--with the clear instruction that they dismantle everything when they're done--could be a valid option, giving them a pile of lumber, a skil saw, and a nail gun is not. If the actions of one audience member affect the ability of the next person to participate, the freedom to create is compromised. It's not good or bad, it's just a different piece.

I'm going to take an opportunity, if one comes up, to use Lego and a camera to see what kind of scenery the audience creates. I have no idea if it will work like Licht but it might be fun. People do like hands-on performance. They like to feel not only involved, but necessary. And Licht's function hinges on that. While I don't assume this is the future of theatre in the making, I do hope it is engaging. (And I don't think scenic input from the audience will feel too much like the disturbing manipulation I've seen with Licht. It should be fun and light. I hope.)

Perfect

I am currently working as ME/Board Op for my classmates' piece "Perfect." It is running through Friday at the Dilston Grove gallery in Southwark Park (a stripped but listed church. the tech tables are in the organ loft, and the tall church windows have automatic blackout shades. It's kind-of awesome). Created by the all-female company Theatre With Milk, Please, the piece explores the varying (and often contradictory) physical ideals to which women aspire, and the conflict this generates among us.

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of designing and implementing lighting for 3 shows back to back for other classmates--"Hope" by Petar Miloshevski, "Footmark" by Visitors, and a piece in development by Ophelia Chan. Next week I will be developing lighting for a segment of "Pain without Words" by Riki Kim. Shortly thereafter I may be shedding additional light on a production of "Who's Cloud is it Anyway?" By De.Bunked at the People Show Theatre.

One of these days I'll find a space for my own piece, but until then I'm certainly keeping busy.

Lautes Licht: The Workshop

This past Thursday I held a short Licht event for my classmates and tutors. I was interested to see if members of the public would be interested or willing to participate in a Licht installation if they were expected to not only control the lights, but perform. I offered a brief demonstration of how it works with my trustiest actress, laid out a few dozen slips of paper with simple actions, stories, speeches, and monologues written on them, and opened it up to participation.

After a few awkward minutes in which people ummed and erred, a few daring volunteers got up and tried it. They picked the easiest slips, naturally, and got themselves started figuring out how the lighting intensity changed with each percentage increase. They fumbled, they got confused, they laughed. My veteran actress encouraged participation by grabbing up instructions, seemingly at random, and darting to a light to try them.

Gradually people started trying the tougher ones as they realized that the piece worked whether they succeeded or failed at following their lights. More got up at a time, and eventually all 3 spots were filled and all lights were operated. A vastly pregnant teacher got up and tap danced like a bowling ball while a slender actress knelt and cried. A pianist played an ambient, meandering tune according to his light while a director sang the Australian national anthem. The operators tried to keep them in time, but it took on a dissonant, eerie quality. An actress read President Obama's public address regarding the oil spill while a professor glared at the audience. Most of the inadvertent scenes that Licht generates worked beautifully.

Commentary afterwards was helpful and generally positive. The participants noted that getting up and moving was easier and more fun than getting up and speaking. Acting is tough under Licht conditions, so even though I left out a selection of speeches, monologues, and letters to be read, if the spirit moved anyone, the only documents selected were the day's sports results and the Presidential Address. Ophelia's "Rosemary is for Remembrance" speech was considered and declined by several, who realized that any document with emotions, pauses, or pacing written in would be far too awkward and difficult. Some better suggestions for text-based actions were to describe an object or ism in detail, recite a favourite poem or song, demonstrate a safety lecture, or tell a fairy tale.

The participants agreed that it was nice to give up power and internalization for a while to let the viewer choose what is appropriate. IT was fun and even freeing for some. Others who operated boards but did not perform explained why--it would be nice to have an option to participate that did not involve performing, but instead perhaps painting or creating something which would evidence the lighting changes in its creation or form.

The question arose, when it came to singing songs, reciting poems, or telling stories--the power balance seemed to shift from the audience operator to, not the performer, but the content. The operator had a hard time changing the lighting away from the piece's natural or expected phrasing--all she felt she could do was to enhance the swells and decrescendos as they came, almost like catching them in a tonal stream.

Likewise, performers felt unable to walk out of their light until they had a long enough blackout. No-one was comfortable stopping and walking out while they were still being played with, even if they were mentally done with what they'd chosen to do. Oddly, though, few people felt like they were being manipulated, or like they were powerless. Indeed, one performer expressed that she felt powerful and real in the space. Another mentioned it was an exciting and joyful experience--one because she was in the spotlight and knew she could be heard and seen, which is always a thrill, but also because of the fact that there was clearly someone operating her light, there was someone watching and strongly engaged with what she was doing. That was exciting.

I suppose it must be for performers. Even though I created this piece with that in mind I nevertheless find the idea of doing it daunting for that reason alone. But performers are used to being directed, and having their active choices made for them. It is no great leap for them between embodying the idea of the director in the next take and embodying the idea of the audience member right away. Particularly if the direction has truly already been made, it is just up to the audience what part or aspect of the performance they see.

In creating a workshop I suppose I generated a toy for performers--people who would already be interested in doing the work. I did not succeed in getting non-performance types to participate (Except for my friends who got up and felt silly for my sake.) I did offer them a chance to reflect on their energy levels, perform on their toes, and have a unique challenge to respond to real artistic contributions from the audience. But I don't think I've changed anyone's life.

----

I've decided to copy my slips of paper down here so I don't lose them. Yes, it's all of them, not a sampling, but even during the session I was thinking of more, and asking the audience for them. Several of them worked together to make interesting and poignant pieces.


Think about something you really hate. Tell us how much you dislike it. The brighter your light, the worse it is.

Tell a story from your life. At low light, feel free to mumble. AS the light gets brighter, allow your enthusiasm for the story to creep in.

Think about the first time your significant other said "I love you." Tell us about it. The brighter your light, the more exciting it is.

Count in the language of your choice. At low light, count slowly and quietly. At bright light, count quickly and loudly. At medium light, count comfortably. Stop at your leisure.

If you can tap dance, tap out a simple rhythm louder or quieter according to your light intensity. If you cannot tap dance, try anyway.

You are intimidating. The brighter your light, the harder you stare at your light operator.

You are sad. The brighter your light, the harder you cry.

Read the newspaper provided. At low light (you won't be able to see much anyway) feel free to squint at it and read slowly. At bright light, tear out articles. Be sure to resume reading when it gets darker.

Jog in place. If your light is off, stand still. As the light gets brighter, run faster.

Clap your hands according to the light intensity. At low light, clap slowly and softly. In the middle, clap comfortably. At high light, make a lot of noise!

Whistle or hum your national anthem. At low light, whistle or hum quietly. As the light gets brighter, whistle louder, and if you know the words, sing with pride when the light is bright. Feel free to sing in your own language. IF you do not know the words, "dah dah dah" works too!

Think about something you find funny. The brighter your light, the harder you laugh.

Shake your booty according to the light intensity. Try to follow the light, not any other sound that is being made in the room.

If you know a song on the piano, treat the light like a conductor and adjust your tempo, volume, and intensity accordingly. If you do not know how to play the piano, press one key faster or slower according to the light intensity.

You are the wind. The brighter your light, the stronger you blow.

More Thinking, Lautes Licht

I'm beginning to see Licht as an analytic tool--something I did not expect. Particularly when contrasting elements are inputted into the machine: it poses the question, "who will win?" What will the audience choose to watch, Jefferson Davis, or Abraham Lincoln? Happy story, or sad story?

I believe it is possible to use the same rotation scheme and interface to create themes (or work within established themes or stories.)

The piece works most easily and clearly with musicians and dancers. This may be largely on account of training and habits of watching a conductor for cues and tempo. Less ethically dubious, too, when all understand clearly how they are contributing to the whole.

May work with verbatim theatre, with actors wearing visible earphones and listening to a recording of someone describing an important moment in his or her life. The actor may hone in on the rhythms of the recorded speaker's voice, and add or remove emphasis from the text according to their lighting.

It may also work with people reading documents detailing opposite sides of a lawsuit, or simply with two good bits of recent writing with contrasting themes or aims.

The piece needs to accentuate the fact that it is about the audience too.
--Light audience too, light operator to ensure they are sure they know they're inside the piece.
--slowly fade up on the operator after they've been tinkering for a while, or when they're being jerks (punishment?)

The Operator must take responsibility for his or her actions, for while the safety of anonymity encourages people to participate, it is arguable that the safety of anonymity also encourages cruelty. It has also been suggested by audience members that "abuse" of the performers by switch-happy audience members was encouraged by the specific direction to interact with the light board, and that they felt rather like they were part of a psychological study. Some even wondered if they were expected to cause harm to the performers, or if the game was for an observer to see how far they would push the performers before backing off. (Milgram experiment, The Perils of Obedience). As it was, all abusive operators, save one, felt satisfied with their abuse when one performer flubbed a line, soured a note, or missed a step--the performers were never pushed far enough by abuse to quit the game, though they knew they were empowered and expected to, and the audience never felt cruel or free enough to continue after confusion set in. I believe though, that if operators are visible they are more likely to engage with the piece self-consciously and gently, particularly if they believe that the performers can see them, as then they may be aware that there may be repercussions--from the rest of the audience, the performers themselves, and from any area security personnel.

Licht Thoughts

Ethical Implications
If you give the audience the power to affect the piece, are you compromising your own artistic integrity?

Are you making your actors vulnerable to harassment and manipulation?
:All performers should be mentally and emotionally prepared to be jolted around a bit by audiences, particularly people who have never had an opportunity to touch a light board before and people who are trying to learn how to operate the piece. That is not to say the actor is not empowered. The actor is never put into a position where he is made to do anything he would rather not. He sets his limits himself, and no amount of jerking or jolting will cause him to modify his behaviour beyond that which he has established for himself to do. Claudio will only run as fast as he feels comfortable and can sustain for the duration of his rotation. While he is expected to consistently perform according to his lighting, he sets his own energy limits according to his ability at the time.


Performance Implications
If the performers must change their intensity or emotion according to the light provided, can there be honesty or truthful energy?
: if the performer considers his light to be another performer, then his energy can reflect its changes in an honest way. Likewise, if he likens it to a musical swell or scenic change, he may feel compelled to change to match it simply by the true energy relationship he has with it.

Human Element:
The relationship between actor and light is not always precise:
They determine their performance energy according to how much light they believe they have.
Their estimate of light intensity is affected by other light intensities—both of the phases provided to them earlier and of the intensity being offered to other performers.
The intensity of their performance is affected by their own personal energy level, their engagement with the action performed, the amount they trust the audience, and their attention to concurrent performances.

While precision could be maintained with a computerized system—volume or robotic movement controlled directly by the light board—not only has this already been done, but it is not performance. It is kinetic sculpture. Licht is an interface—a challenge to both performer and board operator to both be actively engaged in the energy exchange.

Performers found that they began to get a feel for operators, and found ways of adapting to particular lighting rhythms and patterns. Operators who tended to mix the performances in high-speed, rhythmic ways were frequently pleased to discover that actors would repeat a short noise or movement until they were confident they had time to continue in a meaningful way. For instance, Jenny would repeat a quick 7-step Flamenco pattern in 1-second bursts, while Cristian would sing "whoa!"--and alternation between the two could be very musically pleasing. Geraldine would isolate chunks of her stories for staccato delivery: "it was!" "the best!" "thing I'd!" "ever!" "seen!" to allow for musical play with the sound of her voice.

Social Implications:

Audience members who “get” the performance inform the newly-arrived, affording them a sense of inclusion and identification both with the piece and with the other viewers.

Some audience members choose not to participate, but watch the performance. Others pay more attention to the board operator. Some watch the performance, the operator, and other audience members. Some wander past without stopping.

The performance was constructed with the space as a primary consideration. Our vault at Shunt was near the main entrance and opened straight onto the main hall. Thus it was important to not have a huge clot of people blocking up the corridor for two hours a night. Rather than building a performance that would keep audience members attentive for an hour, then, I rotated the performers and their actions every 10 minutes, and did not ensure that performances suggested a through-line or theme. The show changed completely every 10 minutes. This kept the actors fresh and kept the audience moving--some would think the show was over when they rotated (though clued-in audience members would frequently inform those who were beginning to applaud or leave that this was not so, keeping them there) and others would simply no longer be able to engage with the piece once the content they had created changed. By changing the content I was able to keep the hallway passable without causing people to feel rushed, shoved, or unwelcome. I found this movement felt organic, and, as this was not a content-driven but form-driven piece, there was no need to keep people around after they'd gotten their fill.

Quick Audience Chats:

Individuals and groups who have enjoyed controlling the board have included:
Musicians
Dancers
Technicians
Writers
Photographers
Djs/Track Samplers

A string quartet spent a full ten minutes with the piece, conducting all components like an orchestra and dancing around.

A rapper and his girlfriend spent over five minutes carefully mixing Spanish and Italian voices into pleasing rhythms.

A group of photographers spent twenty minutes poised to the side of the board, snapping away as other audience members created light looks.

A dancer spent five minutes on the board, aligning a dancer and a singer into harmony.

“Clap, Clown! This is the best thing I've ever seen!” (drunken city boy with a bourbon and coke)

An off-duty Shunt lighting technician spent several quiet minutes arranging voices and stories to create relationships between the performers. “See, I tried these two together (slides up an aggressive-looking seated man and a hopeful-looking woman leaning against an alcove) but I couldn't see why she would want him, he looks like such a jerk. But these two together (brings up a guitarist happily tapping on his instrument and whistling, and hopeful woman) seem to be each other's...brains, you know? And these two (brings up aggressive man and a woman dancing around and blowing a whistle) have something in common, but I'm not sure what it is. Maybe he's watching her, and puffing his chest up to try and get her attention?”

Options for Development:

Right now, Licht is a demonstration and an opening discussion for a performance platform. I'm actively seeking writers to develop themes and characters who may all relate to one another, an event, or a concept who would be interested to adapt their story or outline to a Licht interface. I believe it is possible to rotate performers to create distinct, engaging, and themed scenes.

I have also considered offering the interface to composers and musical troupes, both for exploration and for performance. It works well with music, and is less ethically dubious—musicians are used to following a conductor, and know that their adherence to the dynamics and timing of the conductor benefit the piece as a whole. The same is true for dancers and singers.

Lautes Observations

"I'm scared to have this much power!" (audience member, when given the opportunity to rotate the actors herself)

"This is really neat--I mean, I've given these people relationships. I don't know if they're supposed to have them, but I've given them to them, and they make sense. See, the singing girl is this guy's brain, and the girl with the whistle is this girl's brain, but you can switch them...but if you switch them this way, it doesn't make sense to me. But I guess it might make sense to you..." (off-duty Shunt light crew member)

"Really, really fun." (overheard regularly)

"You know, I've never been asked to do this before...not to give you a big head, but I've never gotten to affect the performance in this way." (Ayse)

"Well, see, my friend showed me how this works--you can come up, you use these things [faders], and you can change the way they act. See, (demonstrates) you can make her disappointed, (slides fader up) and now she's really happy!" (dancer from another Shunt piece)

"You can make connections in your head... I don't know what she's saying, but she could be complaining about [this guy] her lousy boyfriend!" "and the look on his face is priceless--it's like "shall I deign to perform for you?" Catherine W.

Audience member on board faded a speaker out with a finger to his lips as though to say "shh, I'm quieting you."

Audience members eyeballing each other when the board is free. Who gets to go next?

"My ego forces me to conform to the rules of the system. I would feel silly, embarrassed to step out, even when I did feel like I couldn't take it any more." Jenny O. (performer)

Even when the performers are saying something you don't agree with, or which offends you, frequently audience members will let them speak their peace, then turn them off and grumble about disagreeing with them--when they could have turned them off the whole time. "It's like we're all drawn to the macabre for some reason." (Jenny O.)

Lautes Licht

Just to let any reader know, I have a show opening up on Thursday entitled "Lautes Licht" at the Shunt Lounge, London Bridge Station. (quite literally, it is directly under London Bridge Station, in these neat old vaults) It requires audience participation to work--you, the emancipated spectators you are, get to set the light levels, thereby telling the characters how to play! Make them run! Make them dance! Make them create beautiful music! You may have fun, you may feel cruel...you may step back and see that somehow all these separate performances seem to relate to each other, and tell you a very individual story. Take a moment to set the action and enjoy your show, then let another guest take a turn. Be sure to watch while your friends conduct their own pieces--you might see something new.

It runs Thursday through Saturday, May 27-29 and June 3-5. All shows start at 8pm but will have a variety of performance times and durations (at least 2 1-hour runs each night, as it relates to concurrent pieces in the space). Tickets to the Lounge are £10, £5 concession for students, the elderly, and the unemployed on Thursday and Friday. There will be loads of other performances, art installations, demonstrations, and opportunities to drink and be merry all through the night.





----
As with most of the work I'm up to these days, Licht is a proposition. An experiment, both for me and for you. It is an opportunity for you to see exactly what you want to see, and an opportunity for me to see if you enjoy that. Does the power to control the action excite you? Scare you? Disappoint you? Why?

Lautes Licht (in English, Loud Light) is also a study of the musicality of language. Our multi-national cast will be speaking and singing in a variety of tongues, playing instruments, and communicating visually, each performer on his and her own. I'm excited to see if you find narrative and meaning emerging from the juxtaposition of their actions the way I have. The performers in the space will change regularly throughout the night, so be sure to come back often to try new configurations, new levels, and new stories!

Matt Adams, Blast Theory

since 1991

new interactive art, game play, digital media.

Moment of graduation is a moment of truth: transition into professional practice is a rough 12 months.

Blast theory started with a diverse group of people working in a cinema. they realized that they had a niche to fill when club culture and raving were at their pre-corporate peak--it was a good setting for new work.

study giving up control: being kidnapped. observe how well people actually handle loss of control, when in so many instances we give it up freely (religion, politics, government)

Permeable boundaries between Real and Virtual space: mist screens, walk-through-able

What is virtual space? How do soldiers feel okay killing images on screens and not having to deal with feeling like they've actually killed people?

Can You See Me Now? First mixed-reality game.
Day of the Figurines: halfway through the game the town is invaded by Arabic-speaking soldiers
You Get Me? creating a dialogue between artist and audience is vital for participatory work

Logistics:
Charity status--Free money!
take on freelancers, assistants, and transient staff

Practice needs to be central or you'll get used to money. Very hard to make that pay cut willingly.

Touring, Arts Council, grants, and occasional "juicy ones" pay the bills--filled a very specific niche at a specific time. Be pragmatic about what AC wants, how you can prove that you fulfill their needs. Ask for advice from people who can give you things. Funding may come in the form of "We'll buy some equipment for ourselves and let you use it"-don't turn up your nose! partner with companies who are receiving funding. leech off of industrial Funding Bodies, universities, scientific researching bodies--but they will constrain creative input.

now that we have internet we don't need tv companies to act as the gate-keepers to broadcast.

no product may come out of some ventures but taking a year (and a grant) to learn can be valuable too.

Find a community that supports you--not just the arts. (gamers have money and love Blast Theory--useful) connect with research branches of big companies (not marketing, manufacturing, or sales--the research team at Nokia is filled with academics, not cell-phone salesmen)

-if companies let the artists lead research, art will happen in your technology. scientists and computer types generate the technology, artists figure out how to use it in cool ways.

Integrated Project on Pervasive Gaming: games as culture. not just platforms, but pervasive forms, things which influence society and technology by Being Themselves.

Get involved with projects which may put you in touch with organizations that may take you on. be prepared to diversify. It is hard to reach an audience that doesn't go to the theatre. Blast Theory is not even recognized as theatre--but it is seductive and engaging without being trashy.

social networking sites are not just useful for marketing--they're good for figuring out who your audience could be.

(what is marketing's obsession with grabbing 14-year old boys? It's kinda creepy how much effort and money is put into nabbing children when they're young--you still have mommy's money and you'll pitch a fit if you don't get it...great. i f'ing hate kids. religions, political parties, patriotism, toys...get 'em while they're young. sick.)

In Rider Spoke, is there an anti-climactic experience? Do people feel disappointed or frustrated because there's no boss level which we have come to expect in organized, led activity? Do we simply expect a narrative, or at least some linear flow? IS this something that is innate? Even people who don't 'do' theatre play video games and watch movies. We expect a boss--a final challenge. That means we've WON. That's the problem with endurance pieces. That's why we find social networking gaming dissatisfying. Small worlds, as a platform, Grand Theft Auto as just an open world is boring. If there's no objective it just feels like daily life. Mere interaction with a platform is stagnation. Experience for experience's sake feels, if not empty, incomplete. Audiences need to win in order to feel as though they spent their time wisely. The maze is only over once you've figured your way out. If you must be led out, you've lost. Make it something you can interact with until a point, at which point it explodes. If it blows up, you win. When it's over, make it Over. Take it away conclusively, but only after it has achieved its objective, provided satisfaction.

Is Rider Spoke cathartic or experiential? Should audiences be trusted to make their own experiences? Are they audiences anymore? What is at stake for the creator? If nothing is risked, nothing is created.

Conferences aren't a bad thing. Learn how other people work, how they research.

Embedded video, virtual working tvs...magpie approach. pick and take others' technologies, research, staff, stuff.

Researchers don't get out much--express interest in them. offer to give them publicity. Talk to people you come across in your research, if they're alive. Be honest and specific: you don't have to know what you're doing. They're the experts.

remember that politically charged groups have agendas which probably don't align with yours.

be thinking about logistics of developing projects: how wold you, who would you, not a specific show. First steps of engagement. Figure out what practicalities might be. What is your concept? Here is my theoretical idea, what I'm excited about--what is my next practical step toward exploring that idea?

Research Notes, Semester 2: January (A)

Research Project Meeting 1

Audience reaction based on background

Classical Theatre:

Do audiences need particular education or background to "Get" classical theatre? It used to be for the people.

Baz Luhrman: Bringing people into Shakespeare, or bringing people into action movies with a Shakey twist?

Are we constantly developing Shakespeare, adapting it to relate to people?

In-Yer-Face: no escape if you're surrounded by the show, you can't avoid being involved. You can't check out. Trapped. Punch Drunk: very involved, actors touch you, feel like you're part of the show.

Average Theatre-goer vs Practitioner theatre-goer?

There should always be something in the show that keeps your attention which is Relevant to the Intended Experience.

What is the story behind clapping? Do we do so because we think we should or because we genuinely appreciated the show? How does this relate to the Forest Fringe donation scheme, whereby the audience is asked to give as much money at the end of the show as they think the performance was worth? Does that make audiences more honest? Is it more accurate than applause?

Wanting to Be Here makes the experience more enriching. Feel the dynamic of the area, not just the academic landscape.

----

Creating Stuff: What is the discrepancy between focusing on the process versus the product? Process without product...disappointing? Unfulfilling.

Street Clowns in Mexico--theatre of not being noticed.

The Ethics of Stepping into People's Lives (we should run away from this topic!)

I'm just going to go there and do it--what ever happens, happens. In applied theatre, baseline probable reaction goes out the window. There is no common ground--you're dealing with the mentally disturbed, prisoners, the poor, children, the theatrically disinclined...

What are our strengths/focal areas?
--working with disadvantaged groups
--immersive theatre
--classical theatre, Shakespeare for everyone
--Hamlet in Tower Hamlets
--Seek patterns of interest within a practical framework
--Concept of Hope: introduction in to the high theatre experience?
--Transformational theatre: materiality transforms performer and audience at the same time
--The Transformative Power of Performance: Maria Brenointch: Boa Constrictors (?)

Blast Theory: games as theatre? Do we even call it theatre anymore?
Sally Mackey: Thea Care Lian Trilogy: Site-Specific, how do you go back to your project after you've had a year to grow and change?
-Reception based on culture: if you know snakes, would you jump onstage to help Maria? Do you analyze with more depth? Does that inhibit self-expression?

If you have to plant a tree of study, where do you put it in relation to everyone's starting point?
(study one specific reaction to one specific stimulus in a variety of communities. But what's the control group?)

Why does theatre make you cry?
Filming the audience opens a whole new can of worms: how do they behave if they know they're being watched?

Difference between Reaction and Perception: ensure you focus on one and avoid language which could stimulate crossover. Identify "key concepts" which the subject typically suggests and establish straight-away whether or not you'll be addressing them in this instance.
(Make sure other people hear your idea before you choose to study it)

How do we get the Same reaction in different communities?
Can we create a universal language or effect can impact everyone the same way?
Different audience reactions to the same stimulus?

(We must acknowledge that there is no universal effect, no universal reaction)

What about "two girls/one cup": same idea of varying reactions to the same stimulus. add music, different forms: classical vs grunge-core music...vs silence.

People's reactions to naked human form?

Willing vs unwilling audience? Changes intensity of reaction, direction of reaction...

Aesop's fables: ubiquitous? actual universal themes: tyrants will always justify their tyranny, honesty triumphs over corruption...
Before/After: Can we find universality? Reaction study. Use one specific example.

Sudden reflexive reactions: valid? Not really.
Most Dangerous: US serial, real events when people die or get badly injured.

Find an effect that encourages Engagement rather than Escape. Effect that encourages participation rather than simple revulsion or flight reflexes.
Contrast what you see on faces against what participants say they felt.

----

Dang, the game has changed: more and more people are studying audiences than in the past few weeks. We are all acknowledging the role of the audience in understanding: the show is the impact of the piece on the audience in the context of their minds, their collective set of experiences. The show is in the interpretation.

The Metaphysical Shiver: (Taghrid?)

-Alienation through raising awareness. (can i fit this in?)

The attempt to identify problems to the general public. How does this impact people who just don't want to engage?

Claire: On MAATP 9 years ago, found it a time to disprove her own theories.
6 Core emotions at the heart of neurology that are recognizable across all cultures.
Duncan: playwright: command a sense of attention. How do you dictate specific types of attention? different ways of achieving it? Process does not dictate success.

Abstraction complicates things: truth is the most relevant.

What are the 10 things I want right now? (in 30 seconds)
Feminine Equality, Safety/Liberty, warmth/comfort, cleanliness, freedom from vermin, personal space, good food, friends, Ben, family.

(Funny those came out in a weird order, didn't they? Edit in hindsight, not in the process: find the sudden, uncensored self.)

What are 10 things I'm upset about right now? (in 30 seconds)
America, mindless entertainment, my tendency to sleep all day, my tendency to rant, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Chinese manufacturing takeover, travel and privacy infringement under the guise of safety, paranoia culture, institutionalized hatred

Theatre is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an unmovable object. (really? are you suggesting that the space between a rock and a hard place is filled with complaints?)

the power of pulling unpleasant information out of an audience: asking for secrets--what gives you the right to ask? Why are people complicit? Moreover, why am I complicit? In toda's study we have been the "Them" in the theatre: the recipients of the experience. the Audience.

Standaway Dance: IRA Bombings. Incredibly offensive play, groundbreaking.
Seven Jewish Children
Stockwell: Controversial, poorly researched dramatization of Brazilian man shot by police on the tube after 7/7

Non-Theatre audience: no clue-ers
Teenagers (Adrian) A-level age, East Londoners, 2nd generation British, no background in experimental theatre
Club Crowd @ Proud

Logistics:
Permission forms from parents for public display of kids' interviews, group audience filming.

Smart kids from rough neighborhoods, capable and talented kids from poverty
Tight communities: people who'd rather be poor than work for a stranger, or for a regular paycheck for helping achieve someone else's goals. Difficult to gather like-minded people without a name or a reputation.

What kind of show do we want to put on? Something enjoyable for both kids and adults?

(Ignorant audiences of theatre rarely express opinions, even if they have them, whereas everyone has an opinion about film, even if they don't know what went into it. Because people are used to the format. In theatre people are more likely to assume that they just don't get it. )

Do stories have to include some element of hope?
Are we studying gut reactions or thoughts over time?
Clowning: Effect without Content. Your audience should not be trying to intellectualize your actions or intent. How do clowns relate to kids vs adults?

Moments of universality:
Are they useful? DO we Want moments that Everyone can relate to? Is that too Hollywood?

Concept of Universality: assumption that on some level you can please everyone. Fascist?

Audience Research:

Why do you respond the way you do?
Visual/Physical/Sound based (Not Text!)

Movement: A universal language? (what about the blind?)

Sweeping generalizations about everyone: Imperial mindset. There is no one essential truth.
Postmodernism: Introductory material: Derrida

Theatre and Universality
Hans Lehmann: Post-Dramatic Theatre
Patrice Pavis

What are the possibilities and problematics of universality?
----

Laban: universality of movements: big moments in life, birth, death, eating, excreting, sleeping and waking. Relationship of universality to movement/theatre/multiculturalism
gesture reactions cross-cultural audience
study of gesture in painting?
what is my culture?
American culture may be too big an undertaking.

Research Meeting Notes, 25 January 2010

Does Audience Participation lead to enhanced internalization?

Brains vs conditioning: developmental norms in kids vs cultural differences in adults.

We should establish a questionnaire for selected audience members to fill out, or have a feedback session or discussion group and take many notes.

How about....
--a 30 second film or piece?
---Film has the benefit of being exactly repeatable.
---the flicker may hold attention
---live may be more fun but it is subject to conditions/constraints of space.

Woman Without Piano--emotive music during otherwise stagnant scenes. sound affects perception.

Film vs Live vs Photos

Verbatim Theatre--what is the effect of knowing that a story is true? (does this make things too complicated?)

Proud Gallery/Horseplay: Could we show a short film? With CCTV in the room? Perhaps include a comment book or shouting space to record responses.

Specific communities--most relevant to us.
--small enough to be manageable.

How do we find and organize people?

Perhaps we should talk to street performers:
--do you move around or stay put?
--where do people stop and watch? where do people put money in the hat?
--what is the reaction between an audience who chooses to be there vs an unwitting audience?
--how do we find these communities? How do we get them to see our shows?

Find a point you can always get back to. have a throughline.

remember that big generalizations are bad.

simple specific.

relation to senses--what if audience is blind? deaf? paralyzed?

Birth, Death, Fucking, and Shitting--these are universal.

Kissing vs Hugging in greeting re: multiculturalism.

Kissing in public--Signs of Affection. (signs brings semiology baggage)

people's reactions to kissing based on clothing, movement, facial expressions

Seeing your own experience played back at you

Something that can be Titled?

Kissing in Public--An Observer Study

How do we ensure that we don't over-extend our generalizations derived from research while still drawing useful conclusions from data?

How do we avoid a Western-Dominant stance in our study?

Does audience participation/interaction enhance interpretation/engagement with the performance?

Can we create work, as Westerners, that is truly intercultural?

Can you retain your culture in London, or does London adapt your culture to it?

we live in a white plastic culture--what does this do to identity here? What is Woman in White Plastic Culture?

Toby Jones Practitioner Visit

notes after performances

--Think about when to start, when to stop looking. How do we indicate?

--as audiences we must assume that Everything is deliberate.

--it's always fascinating what you Tried to do, but it's completely irrelevant to what you Did.

--it was interesting watching you watching a show through the lens of your camera. documenting the first go.

--I saw something of the previous piece in it. what was lost, what was gained?

--Do we like being led around? 'We're ready for you' as a starting point for the audience. We don't like being placed.

--all the pieces shared abstraction, an atmosphere of silence and contemplation. Nothing was fast, sudden, or jerking. All studied proximity in some way. Great care was taken.

--secret codes for practitioners: putting a moment of theatre in a real-life setting.

--many concurrent languages

--humans have been installed, freeze frames--indicates that the first movement will be important.

--a toy car on stage can be a real car. Objects become symbols whether we mean it or not. We try to create meaning for ourselves, but the question is always pervasive--Am I getting it? We try to understand patterns. Is there a pattern, or am I overanalyzing? It all matters to the observer. Each movement affects our relationship with the objects onstage.

--Why did we enjoy watching a clockwork train? (If we knew that, we wouldn't need theatre.)

--That which is open to any interpretation has no value.

--Please, then rupture. Form, shape--then take away. Establish then destroy--what is that feeling, loss of what we understood or identified with?

--Strictly observed ritual behaviour. What does this do to the un-invited audience? Effective atonal silence, tonal silence. Articulating interesting shapes, arranging recognizable moments into new sequences.

Out of Light Comes Sound.

Why are the performers drawn to the light?

If you can make Out into In, you can play with preconception.

Matt Adams Cultural Landscapes Visit

Blast Theory (since 1991)

-new interactive art, game play, digital media
-started as a group of varied people who all worked in a cinema

--the moment you graduate is a moment of truth. the first 12 months in which you attempt to transition into professional practice is rough.

-put first shows into club/rave culture, as at the time it was at its pre-corporate peak. It was a good setting for new work.

Studied loss of control by offering audiences the chance to be kidnapped. People hand over control in most aspects of life to politicians, religion, schools--how do you handle having everything in your life controlled by someone else?

study permeable boundaries between real and virtual space.

studied soldiers who do most of their killing on computer screens and never have to really deal with the actual killing of a person.

studied divide between media coverage of individual killed US soldiers in Iraq versus the hundreds of thousands of nameless, faceless Iraqi civilians.

"Can you See me Now?" first mixed reality game. online/live tag.

"You Get Me?" creating a dialogue between artists and audiences is vital for participatory work.

charity status gets you donations. interns are free labor.

practice needs to be central to your focus or you'll get used to your paycheck. it is hard to take a pay cut on purpose.

funding may come in the shape of "we got a grant and we'll buy things with it that you can use." don't sneer. partner with groups already in receipt of funding. Industrial funding bodies, univerities, and scientific research bodies are valuable--but they will constrain creative input.

now that we have the internet we don't need tv stations to be the gatekeepers of broadcast.

some ventures may not lead to products but taking a year to learn and develop is valuable.

--see if there is a community out there that will support you that isn't just the arts. like Gamers.

--some development bodies have realized that if you let the artists you want to attract lead development, you will have the art you want in your technology.

Integrated Project on Pervasive Gaming--games as Culture, not just platforms, but pervasive forms: things which influence society and technology by Being Themselves.

Reaching an audience that doesn't go to the theatre is hard. Sometimes you have to make yourself unrecognizable as theatre--be seductive and engaging without being trashy.

Social networking sites are not just for marketing--they can help you figure out who your audience could be.

People like marketing to 14 year old boys. Why is this demographic so important?

The Anti-Climactic Experience: do people feel disappointed or frustrated because there's no 'boss level', which they have come to expect, in organized/led activity? Do we simply expect a narrative, or at least linear flow, because that's how most literature is arranged, or is this something innate? Even people who don't do theatre play video games and watch movies. We expect a boss level as a final challenge. That means we've won. That's the problem with endurance pieces. That's why many people find social networking "gaming" dissatisfying and even boring. Small Worlds, as a platform, is interesting enough, but it doesn't lead anywhere. Grand Theft Auto, without the scripted games, is just a grid of intangible space. We need an objective or it just feels like daily life minus touch, taste, or smell. Mere interaction with a platform is stagnation. Experience for experience's sake feels, if not empty, incomplete. Audiences need to win or lose in order to feel as though they've spent their time wisely. The maze is only over when you figure out the way out--and if someone helps you, you lose.

I think some open-platform games should have a self-destruct function. After you've won everything there is to win, they explode. When it's over, make it Over. Take it away conclusively, but only after it has achieved its objective and provided satisfaction.

Is Rider Spoke Cathartic or Experiential? Should audiences be trusted to make their own experiences? Is that why they're there? Are they audiences anymore?

Researchers don't get out much. Express interest in them, be honest and specific--even if you don't know what you're doing. They're the expert.

Remember that politically charged groups have agendas that probably don't align with yours.

Reading List, performance research

Jacques Derrida
Hans Lehmann--Post-Dramatic Theatre
Patrice Pavis--Multiculturalism in theatre

Walk Like a Man--Gender study done by movement group

US tv programme "Lie to Me"

Laban--relationship of universality to movement/theatre/multiculturalism

(Universality of movement--big moments of life/constants of life: birth, death, eating, fucking, shitting)

11 February, National Portrait Gallery: Study of Gesture in painting

Helene Cixous--binary study

disrupt the absolute

Mark Evans--intercultural dance

Research Project Meeting 3: notes

pieces to look into re: variable interpretation

Standway Dance: IRA bombings. Incredibly offensive, groundbreaking.

Seven Jewish Children: Caryl Churchill.

Stockwell: Controversial, poorly researched dtramatization of the post 7/7 shooting of a Brazilian man on the tube by police.

Audiences:

non-theatre audience (no-clue-ers)--teenagers from East London? no familiarity with experimental theatre.

club crowd at Proud gallery?

smart kids from rough neighborhoods
-tight communities: people who'd rather be poor than work for a stranger, or for a regular paycheck for someone else's goals

What kind of show do we want to put on? Something enjoyable for both kids and adults?

Ignorant audiences, of theatre, rarely express opinions, even if they have them, whereas everyone has an opinion about film even if they don't know what went into it. Because people are used to the medium of film. Theatre audiences are more inclined to assume they just didn't get it. (?)

Clowning: effect without content. Your audience should not be trying to intellectualize your actions or intent.

Moments of Universality:

Are they useful? Do we Want moments Everyone can relate to? Is that too Hollywood?

Concept of Universality--the assumption that on some level you can please everyone. Is this imperial? Ethics of the sweeping generalization.

Why do you respond the way you do?

Visual/Physical/Sound: not text.

universal language (aside from for the blind) is movement.

What are the possibilities and problematics of universality in theatre?

Practitioner Workshop: Duncan and Claire

Noticing

(Dang, the game has changed--more and more groups are studying audiences than in the past few weeks/months. We are all acknowleding the role of the audience in understanding. The show is the impact of the piece on the audience in the context of their minds and sets of experiences. The show is in the interpretation.)

The Attempt to identify problems to the general public (alienation through raising awareness)--How does this impact people who just don't want to engage?

Claire: was on the course 9 years ago. Found it an opportunity to disprove her own theories.

6 core emotions of neurology that are recognizable across all cultures: happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, surprise, and fear.

10 things I noticed today, in 1 minute:

-new black paint on the wall outside
-fog in Swiss Cottage, but not Lewisham
-neither ATM in the tube was working
-Shannon has a similar travel history to me

(that was a minute?)

Abstraction complicates things: truth is the most relevant.

10 things I care about:
feminine equality
safety/liberty
warmth/comfort
cleanliness
freedom from vermin
personal space
good food
friends
Ben
family

odd order: edit in hindsight, not in the process--find the sudden, uncensored self

10 things I'm rebelling against:

America
Mindless entertainment
tendency to sleep all day
tendency to rant
corporatism
HFCS
chinese manufacturing takeover
travel infringement re: safety
paranoia culture
institutionalized hatred

Theatre is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an unmoveable object.

The power of pulling unpleasant information out of an audience: asking for secrets. What gives you the right to ask? Why are people complicit?
Moreover, why am I complicit?
In today's study we have been the "them" in the theatre, the recipients of the experience. The Audience. Weird.

Research Project Meeting: 16 January 2010

How do we pull one reaction from different communities?

Create a universal language/effect which can impact everyone the same way?

Different audience reactions to the same stimulus?

Acknowledged: there is no universal effect, no universal reaction.

2 Girls 1 Cup: Same Idea of varying reactions to same stimulus.

People's reaction to the naked human form?
Willing vs unwilling audiences--changes intensity of reaction, direction of reaction

Aesop's Fables: ubiquitous? Actual universal themes? (Tyrants will always justify their tyranny, honesty triumphs over corruption..)

Before Study/After study: If we study reactions, can we find universals (within the communities studied?)

Sudden and reflexive reactions--valid or useful for study? Not really.

Most Dangerous: US tv programme real events when people die or get badly injured.

Effect that encourages Engagement, rather than Escape--encourage participation rather than revulsion or a simple reflexive flight reaction.

-Important to study what we see on faces in conjunction with what they say they feel.

Research Project: Meeting 1 15/01/2010

-Audience Reaction Based on Background- meeting notes. Uncollated.

Classical Theatre input?

Do audiences need particular educations or background to "get" classical theatre? It used to be "for the people"...

Baz Luhrman: Bringing people into Shakespeare, or bringing people into flashy movies with a classical twist?

Shakespeare is constantly developing--are we adapting it to relate to people, or trying to adapt people to relate to it?

In-Yer-Face performance: if you're surrounded by the show, you can't avoid being involved. you can't check out mentally--you're trapped.

Punch Drunk: very involved. people touch you. you are part of the show.

Average theatre goer vs practitioner vs non-theatre goer. different for all.

There should always be something in the show that keeps your attention.
We must ensure that all of what people see is relevant to the intended experience.

Clapping because you think you should, not because you actually appreciated the show: Re: Forest Fringe donation scheme shows appreciation far more than applause alone.

Creating stuff: what is the discrepancy between focusing on the process vs the product? Process without product frequently feels disappointing, unfulfilling.

Adrian: Street clowns in Mexico: Theatre of Not Being Noticed

The Ethics of stepping into people's lives

In applied theatre, baseline probable reaction goes out the window. There is no common ground among the mentally disturbed, the poor, the theatrically disinclined.

Project Trimming: What are our separate strengths/focal areas?
--working with disadvantaged groups
--immersive theatre experiences
--classical theatre (Shakespeare for everyone!)

More primitive experiences--ritual dance--more universally recognizable?

Seek patterns of interest within a practical framework

Transformational Theatre: materiality transforms performer and audience at the same time

The Transformative Power of Performance

Blast Theory: Games as theatre? Do we even call it theatre anymore?

Sally Mackey--the Caer Lian Trilogy
-Site specific, how do you go back to your project after you've had a year to grow and change?

-reception based on culture--if you know snakes, would you jump on stage to save Maria Avonovitch? Do you analyze with more depth? Does that inhibit self-expression?

-If you have to plant a tree of study, where do you dig the hole in relation to everyone's starting point?-

-Study of one specific reaction to one specific stimulus in a variety of communities-

-Filming the audience opens a brand new can of worms--how do they behave if they know they're being watched?

-Difference between Reaction and Perception. Ensure you focus on one and avoid language which could imply crossover.

Identify "key concepts" which the subject typically suggests and establish straightaway whether or not you'll be addressing them in this instance.

Make other people hear your idea before you choose to study it.

ailin'

You ever notice that when you're sick--even slightly--all you can think of is your ailment? If I stop and think about it, yes my nose is blocked and sore and my eyes and throat are scratchy, and I've got some pressure in my ears and head, but I'm really not doing so badly. I'm not in unbearable pain, I'm not broken, and I'm not spewing surprising fluids left and right. I'm not even nauseated--though the world does get a bit wobbly when I stand up on account of the aforementioned ear pressure. That said, I can hardly go two minutes without some sort of "oh woe is me, life is so hard" related thought squeezing into my clogged brain. I think this is probably somehow linked to my unconscious brain's current work to clear this mild head cold out--the worker-brain's impulses to send white blood cells and reroute stored energy to the sinus battlefield are leaking into the area of thought that the brain I call I can hear. I'm interpreting the "send men and munitions!" call to mean "oh god, we're all gonna die." My conscious brain is my own in-head Yossarian.