Part 1 - Site Spec research

Working in Theatre: Since I Suppose – Site Spec Theatre

Walking based work encountering the real life play of Shakespeare play ‘Made to Measure.’

I decided to use this video I found as it had some interesting points about site specific work that myself and my group might need to take in to account. Here are some of the points I have taken from this video that I have found interesting and/or helpful...

-          An experience for audience member, they deciede what the meaning is for themselves.

-          They want the audience to relate the fictional world that the creative team have made to the real world they are walking around.

-          Using tools like video, audio and live action helps to enhance the participants experience.

-          In creating the open theme the participant is encouraged to follow their own train of thought.

-          Immersive theatre -  “the audience are not merely passive bystanders. They are part of the story, however small their role may be, and they are in the middle of the action. In an immersive theatre production, the audience in some way plays a role, whether that is the role of witness or the role of an actual character. They may be allowed to roam and explore the performance space as the performance happens around them, allowing them to decide what they see and what they skip. They might be herded from room to room so they see the key scenes. They might even be invited to become a more active part of the performance. The lines between performer and audience and between performance and life are blurred. The audience is placed within the environment of the story and therefore play witness front and centre to the events without the distancing factor of a proscenium.” - https://space.org.uk/2014/08/04/what-is-immersive-theatre/

-          The location of Chicago was chosen because It is easy to be ‘Immersed’ into the city landscape, not adding to the site and just letting it be what it is.

-          Wants their work to stretch the imagination.

-          They started by going to the locations that were going to be used and discussing what can and cannot be achieved in the area. Its best to see what you will be working with as its difficult to work out when you are in an office because you can never remember what all of these sites look like clearly just coming from your imagination.
- One thing that could go wrong is the audiences participation.

Absent - Sit Spec play

“   A young woman enters a hotel. She is magnetic and compelling, yet strangely detached, as if in a dream; she knows everyone, yet is utterly alone; she has many lovers, but loves no one; she is 18 years old - or is she 80?

    ABSENT is partly inspired by The Duchess of Argyll’s residence at a central London hotel from the 1970’s until the 80’s, when she was finally evicted, having run out of friends and credit.

     Threading its way through the maze-like basements of Shoreditch Town Hall, ABSENT will create a multi-layered journey mixing film, installation and a haunting soundscape by Lapalux to create an increasingly labyrinthine dream world that merges past, present and future.”

 – Quote from - https://liftfestival.com/content/36913/archive/2015/absent/absent__dreamthinkspeakbr24_august__25_october_2015

     We went to watch a play called ‘Absent’. It was a site specific/adaptive piece. They use one building, that used to be known as a Hotel but is now used as a town hall, to take us back in time to show us one women’s life. It’s based on the true story of The Duchess of Argyll’s life. 

       I was surprised to see that there was very little live acting; there was only some right at the begging where we would watch her through a small window as though she was looking into a mirror. I would have liked to see maybe a bit more of her popping up around the production; I think it would have gripped me more as it would have been almost been as though she was following us through her life like we would live it with her. On the other hand I did feel quite isolated and lonely, which is probably what they were trying to aim for as that’s how she must of felt living in a massive hotel and when she started losing her friends so we were watching her life as if we were the Dutchess. It was all based in different variations of the same hotel room which made it seem as though it was almost meant to make you feel lost.

     I gathered that from start to finish it was showing you her at a young age and as she grew up to have been kicked out of the hotel. 

      I quite like that fact that this piece was free roaming, you could make different conclusions and everyone can have pieced the story together however they understood the piece. There was no limit to the story and it would try to keep your mind on one track, you could explore the emotion and interest that she had throughout her life. Everything was very calm and quite with some subtle music in some rooms, which in a way made me feel a bit uneasy sometimes because it was a bit too quiet so it made you think something would happen but never did.

     It seemed as though she had a confusing life from where some versions of the rooms were split off into pieces and at the begging her room was always together and that signified to me that the only thing she had together was her own room, it wasn’t messy, it was always clean and in place, however as we went through different rooms and her different life time periods it seemed as though the reason why her room started to fall apart is because it’s the only thing she actually owned until she got kicked out.

      I have taken away from this site specific performance that you don’t always have to be direct with the audience at all times and also other things can be happening at the same time that maybe the main element of the performance is happening. Also that you do not have to guide the audiences minds, they can think of a bigger picture to what is actually going on.

 

      Another thing is that even though it was quite surreal it had that sense of actually reality. This situation actually happened; the audience can relate to it and have empathy towards it. I think once the audience can relate to your performance you can get them immersed in to the fiction world that you have created as though it’s their own reality.