Tuesday 17 May 2016

PROMMERSIVE IN BRIGHTON Part 3 - Digging for Shakespeare


Bright and early the coach from the centre set off into the outskirts of Brighton. To some allotments.

Digging For Shakespeare by Mark Rees aided and abetted by a lecturer, a superb actor/dancer/presence, a youth chorus and a huge valley of allotments and allotmenteers. Oh and the words of Shakespeare.

Mark in his tweed suit with orange tie, orange garters and orange megaphone (well.. more mustard but it was a good attempt) was our guide and focus. The show wove autobiography, local history, Shakespeare on nature, and really wierdy-wierd installation come dance-chant plus knitting and gifts. After a walk through the woods and a slide show in a machine shed, we were set free to roam. No headphones. No challenge. Just a rough map and an hour to wander in the hot May sun.

 

We clambered about in the patchwork valley chatted to the allotment holders and giggled at the knitted characters from Shakespeare presented in greenhouses and beside water butts. At first sight Digging for Shakespeare had no profound message - but the spirit of horticulture seemed to have been dug into the show. There was a relaxed generosity within the performance that seemed to match the burgeoning growth of the fruit and veg around us. At each orange flagged allotment we were invited to take a post card with a gardening tip. At the end we got a mug of tea and a Tunnocks tea cake.

I socialised with gardeners, fellow audience members and with Mark, our guide. My eyes were bathed with the relaxing greens of spring and my skin was warmed by the Sussex sun. I was concious of experiencing deep joy.

Writing now I realise that I very nearly mistook all this for the context - that initially I thought of the nature as a backdrop to the narrative. Reflecting some two weeks later I believe that our physical interaction with the allotment and the elements was the content.

Perhaps the humour and thoughtful words that went before were just preparing us for therapy.
Performance as preparation, then the setting as the maincourse - the content.

Make the audience chuckle, make them jump, make them think, then confine them in a dark shed listening to deep thoughts before setting them loose under the bright sky to commune with nature.

I wonder if that was the plot.


Wednesday 11 May 2016

PROMMERSIVE IN BRIGHTON - Part 2

At dusk I received a text message from the Blast Theory/Hydrocracker axis with the location. Then on arrival, a second text suggesting I look around for fellow audience members - and yes, there were 9 of us in total - clutching fully charged phones and smiling nervously at each other.

Obeying another text we strode down the road to bang on the door of a boarded up shop and meet our 'handler' who would be 'running us'. This was good. I was convinced - well I wanted to support the endeavour because the acting was solid and the environment was credible and we were offered a mug of tea and I'm waiting for the last episode of Undercover to air on TV and this was a bit like being in it.

The briefing made it more intimidating - then off on our assignment. With our back story intact and working in teams of three we were off to infiltrate a right wing meeting at a disused pub in the back streets of Brighton.

After drinks, and nervous small talk I finally engaged with our 'POI' (I was too polite to ask at the briefing but assume it means 'person of interest'). And yes I got some 'dirt', not a lot, but enough to feel I'd delivered, and then we received the text - 'get out - it's going off' and were met in the street to be debriefed. This was the only disappointing bit for me - I wanted to go back to the room to find out more about what others had found out - I wanted my info put on their pin board with the mug shots.

At our second, post show, de-brief - chatting to the creative team later, we learnt the size of the project - a cast of over 30, some of whom were local amateurs. But it needed that - the pub wasn't heaving but there were enough drinkers to legitimise the alpha male brushing me out of the way as he passed.

The piece had been made with care, the improvisation/calculation had heft and the over-hanging sense of urgency, edginess and political extremism was on the money. And I got a lot of eye-contact from actors who were in the zone. Craft.

So after performance on a beach then a back street pub, what next ?

Tuesday 10 May 2016

PROMMERSIVE IN BRIGHTON 1 - I'll tell you when I'm participating!

I'LL TELL YOU WHEN I'M PARTICIPATING !

Saw a perfectly nice piece of theatry-art this morning. Headphones, ponchos, hand stamp (number 1139) an hour long potter along the beach under the pretext that I and my partner (number 1138)  were visitors returning to earth sometime in the future to look at the remains of a holiday resort. I enjoyed it. Quite a lot of care had been taken making a binaural soundscape and burying bits and pieces in the pebbles.
                                                 Number 1139.

I had a nice time. Until I sat down afterwards and read the programme.

"AOD have developed a method of working that links choreography, sound and fine art to create a visual aesthetic that encourages interactive responses and all participants to become the active co-designers of their own exploration"

OK I missed the choreography - although maybe that was when we were asked to lie down, but there was no way I was an active co-designer. I followed instructions. I moved quickly when asked so that I wouldn't lose the thread. The idea suggested in the notes that "people are free to remove their headsets to talk" - suggesting freedom or disobedience is technically true but if you don't want to get left behind (or if you want to remain connected to the narrative) it is not possible.

"The pleasure of making participatory work is the exchange between imaginations: what we as artists create and what the participants then bring to that and share with each other." Sorry - there was no opportunity for me to share my imaginings with the artists - this was one way traffic. Yes our imagination is provoked by the props and instructions but we do not share with "each other".

This is sloppy thinking. This is gobbledygook arts-speak and as someone who make participatory, to an extent co-created participatory work - can I say this is not co-designed, and it's not really participatory work. Call the Art Police !

                                       Number 1138