Overall our final performance for the Contemporary Experimental Performance module went well, but obviously there are many elements of the performance we would work on, change, and improve with more time.
For example..
- Instead of five different forms of celebrations forming our narrative, we would focus strictly on one of them, for example the young girl’s birthday party. Concentrating in extreme depth on one celebration would result in a much more immersive performance with so much attention to detail with the use of senses that the audience would begin to feel like they were really at the party, and not just a passive spectator looking in.
- With more time we would experiment with where the performance would take place for each individual audience member. As our performance centers around celebration with others, we believe it would be extremely interesting if, post-performance, when we each met an audience member and led them blindfolded into the performance space, we instead led them to five separate secluded areas. Each of the five spectators would hear the exact same through the headphones, and feel/smell/taste the same because one of us would be in the space with them, but at the end of our performance, them taking off their blindfold and realising they were alone the whole performance would create an interesting cathartic effect; ironic to the sense of communal celebration throughout our whole piece.
Feedback from each audience member was extremely insightful to us, as our performance relies heavily on the spectator’s actions, so their thoughts on our work has shaped our opinions on how our work went.
One particular audience member felt extremely connected to Jane Parker, the character we held the funeral for, by the end of the performance. So much that he stood up and drank on the final line of the narrative; “can everyone stand and raise your glass to honour my mother and her favourite song.” Also, listening to the entire song when sitting still in his chair enabled him to fully concentrate and immerse himself in the atmosphere at hand.
Another believed they were most involved with the monologue of the girl’s birthday party, because of lines such as “Mum made me a huge cake, yours was probably the same” and “Mum passed out slices so everyone could share my birthday with me. Come on, have a bite,” where we directly connected with the audience members. This contact made directly to him made him feel as if he was a guest at the party and not just listening to someone else’s memory. On the other hand, this same audience member felt disconnected with the funeral speech, as no connection to the audience was made. Because of this he felt no emotion to the funeral as he felt he was looking in instead of being directly involved.
Our uses of long pauses particularly affected one audience member, who felt they were extremely compelling. She encouraged us to use more, as the silence was as powerful as dialogue, and forced the spectator’s to think and draw upon their own individual memories. This is something we would incorporate if we were to continue this work.
This feedback has been extremely insightful into understanding how the audience received our work, and how, with more time and rehearsals, we would transform our piece into a more immersive performance.
Caitlin Clark
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