War and Loss – Safe Bet

Aircraft At The Grandstand- The Performance and Reflection Of Process

Christopher Greg Sellers / May 13, 2013May 13, 2013 / War and Loss

When it finally came to the 3:00pm performance I thought my commitment , energy and ability to tell a storyline from the Grandstand’s history was excellent.

There were many strengths to my overall performance. Firstly, I responded to the site in question very well. I, in each of the three rotations , described how the aircraft were related to the Grandstand’s history. This link being that outside the Grandstand was the first Lincolnshire aircraft hangar. Furthermore, I remained in authority as my character very well, and this was shown in my diction and projection too. Likewise, I assisted the audience to ensure that they understood everything they needed to about the tasks I was asking them to do (eg, make a paper aeroplane). However, I , in a major weakness lost focus twice during the performance. I found it hard to maintain my silence during greeting the audience and forgot to give some of the audience members paper to construct their aircraft. If I was to perform Safe Bet again, I would therefore concentrate on each task separately ,rather than trying to pre-empt tasks as I was doing. Part of the reason for this was that I never timed my performance. As each of the war based presentations revolved they need to last for approximately the same length of time. In future I really should have been more aware of the time limit.

Copy Of The Briefing Speech In The Perfomrance

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Copy Of Some Of The Names Of The Airmen Who Lost Their Lives, Read Out During The Memorial Service, Whilst

The Audience Are Flying The Aircraft

Overall, I feel that the process in Site Specific Performance to make Safe Bet has been a great experience. I researched aircraft models, and information about them in Lincolnshire a great deal before developing ideas. I also created all scripts in my performance extremely carefully so that i t was always contextual and historically appropriate whilst being realistic The drifting at the beginning of this process definitely helped me to improvise ideas rather than rigidly fix a plan. I changed my style of performance many times though I did settle on the theme of war early in the process. On the other hand, if I was to repeat this experience I would have researched into not only Lincolnshire aircraft but it’s impact on the Grandstand a lot earlier in the process. I would also have centred the performance on waiting more . Feedback from the performance was overall very positive but one development that was suggested, was to read out the audience’s names on the memorial list. This would literally put them into the airmen’s shoes so that they can empathise with the performance more. To conclude, I think I connected myself to the space very quickly and therefore portrayed “a variegated scene of perception and action” ((Casey, 2001 ,p18 in Pearson, 2010, p94)). I was able to think outside the box, adapt ideas independently and engaged enthusiastically with tasks in many different sites to progress ideas. The end result was an interactive , thought provoking demonstration of a poignant site specific performance which brought the Grandstand’s voice and history alive in a modern twist.

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A Dambusters Lancaster Aircraft

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My Modern Day Representation Of A Dambusters Lancaster Aircraft

Works Cited

Pearson, Mike (2010) Site Specific Performance, London: Palgrave Macmillan

Aircraft At The Grandstand- The Preview

Christopher Greg Sellers / May 13, 2013May 13, 2013 / War and Loss

It is performance day but before we perform Safe Bet at 1:00 pm a preview of the performance will be held , we were told to treat this with as much professionalism and concentration as the 3:00pm performance. There would also be an audience.

Before beginning I had an issue to solve when the audience are constructing the paper aeroplanes. Instead of me demonstrating how to make them , each audience member is given a paper aeroplane template which they should follow. Between each of the three groups there will also be a laminated copy of the instructions. I also learnt that Jordan and I, before the introduction would welcome the audience, inviting them to sit on the Grandstand steps and wait for the performance to begin. I was also informed that, as I have already took up a lead role in the introduction , that I should act as a tour guide, taking the audience from the ‘women at war’, to ‘Jordan’s memorial’ and then outside to the ‘Penny For Your Thoughts’ display. These activities are all connected with the theme of war so it seems logical that I can lead the audience through .

Paper Aeroplane Template

On reflection, the preview performance went quite well. There were several strengths to this run-through. Firstly, my concentration at the start of the piece was excellent . I didn’t break character or give any information away about the piece , just remained ambiguous. My accompanying posture worked well and so did my expression. Furthermore, I projected my voice well during both the introduction and as the spectators were flying their planes. I spoke with clarity and diction , didn’t rush my speech and brought meaning into all actions. My instructions to make the paper aeroplanes were furthermore clear , and my eye contact surveyed the whole group throughout, improving my circle of attention Finally, my attention to detail on my uniform was outstanding. It represented the period and the level of authority for my character extremely well.

Area Outside Of The Grandstand Where My Airmen/ Audience Members Will Stand Against When Flying Thier Aircraft

There were however quite a few weaknesses to my preview performance Firstly, the rotations of the 3 groups around each of the war activities were messy. Once I brought my first group back to the weighing room in The Grandstand, I forgot to reseat them at the back of the room, so that the representative of the ”Tank group’ would know to collect them. Therefore not all the audience were able to participate in all the war exercises In addition, before the introduction I occasionally made conversation to Jordan which wasn’t focused or relevant . In my performance I must instead stay on task throughout. Moreover, I stood too far forward when my aircrew were throwing their planes.. Thus, this didn’t give a poignant impression, instead sometimes seemed slapstick messy and inappropriate Instead, I should ensure that “traces of those who have lived and died here before, along with their ghostly handiwork” remain ((Pearson, 2010, p169)). Finally, I feel that I should have been more prepared when giving each audience member a betting slip. Some looked confused as to where to sit. In future I should gesture to what I want them to do throughout.

Overall, I know what needs to be developed for the final performance . Likewise, following the performance a slight change has been made to the format. At the end of the piece, once the audience have offered their own suggestions for the Grandstand’s future possible uses, I will lead them back to the ‘Penny For Your Thought’s group, so that they can announce the last few numbers, stopping at 9,000. Of course this highlights the fact that 9,000 Lincolnshire Men died at war. Also, when taking the audience , for the first time, to the pennies I have been asked to find the sunlight, and position the audience in this area. They are able to see all the pennies clearly and so will have more of an understanding of the process and message of the group.

Works Cited

Pearson, Mike (2010) Site Specific Performance, London: Palgrave Macmillan

Can i stop counting?

Lauren Olerenshaw / May 11, 2013May 11, 2013 / War and Loss

‘In addition, site-specific performance resides differentially and with different degrees of durability in the memories of those undertaking different types of tasks that contribute to its making. What might not survive, might alter profoundly or disappear totally, its site itself, rendering restaging unlikely. Site performance is also specific to period, to a moment in time’. ((Pearson, Mike (2010) Site specific performance, Palgrave macmillan)).

1,2,3… 400,401,402…1625,1626,1627…4898,4899,5000…7234,7235,7236…8997,8998,8999…9’000 soldiers from the Lincolnshire regiment gave their lives to ww1.

Can I stop counting now?

Our performance like all others were face with difficulty’s on the day, it wouldn’t be a show if everything went smoothly! The sun to bright for what we planned, burning our feet as we stood on our mound of coins, the sunburn hurting, our heads hurting. But its okay we made it to 9’000.

Although we had gone through many twists and turns to get to our final performance idea, and settled with the simplest idea we had, I thought it was the most effective, although one thinks of counting as something a child could do, we genuinely struggled very much, yes, we rehearsed counting. To count at a fast pace to 9’ooo required the greatest concentration we could give. The timing difficult to ensure we finished as the performance did and to make sure we had created our image of the United Kingdoms flag. My main aim was to make the audience feel the emotion we felt, we delivered the numbers and presented ourselves in a neutral state to not influence the audience, however hoping the reality of how long it took to say all these numbers gave them idea on the vast number of men who gave their lives. I feel it is important to not be embarrassed to approach the subject or shy, but to show pride, and to remember those we lost. By wearing the poppy we showed we were remembering and when turning the coins and laying them we were reflective and deep in thought, reflecting on all the information we had learnt. As I was speaking I had an overwhelming sense of connection that these were more than mere numbers these were lives some as young as the age of fourteen, that’s not a life lived to its full, that is a life over before it has begun. Having lost someone so close to me I could connect to what I was doing. When we reached the magic number of 9’000 I was proud to finally let the audience know what it was we were doing it for, by not informing them in the beginning they had the time to get their heads round the numbers and then by delivering this line at the end the reality of what we were suggesting would hit them and suddenly they would be awoken to the reality of the affects of war.

I believe our performance was a success although simple I feel it was affective and we achieved our aim, we now in the process have also managed to raise money, to give back. We have chose to split the money between two charity’s, one of which will help the children of fallen soldiers and one which will help horses. Thus links to the entirety of the piece and the over riding themes, everyone’s theme had an equal importance and a strong message to deliver to the audience, I feel we gave The Grandstand a voice, and hopefully have inspired thought to eventually give The Grandstand not just a voice but eventually a purpose again. So The Grandstand can regain its glory days and one day in the future people will study The Grandstand for its history and we will be there, part of the history.

Post show blues

Chloe Pitts / May 10, 2013 / War and Loss

‘I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage’ ((Brook, P. (1996) The Empty Space, New York: Touchstone. P7))

This quote highlights the feeling my group were experiencing on the day of our site specific performance, there were many changes in our piece which occurred leading up to the final performance. The changes we made included the scattering of pennies. This decision was made to make them look like people scattered around; reiterating the idea of the deaths. The second change was saying numbers rather than facts; this created a more poignant feel to the piece as it highlighted the sheer amount of deaths that occurred.

In retrospect of our performance I believe if we had the opportunity, we would have done things such as painting the grass, this would have illuminated further the representation of the soldiers’ deaths within the flag, and how they represented queen and country. Overall I feel we achieved a brilliant performance, as we connected with the audience and managed to remind them of the work that the Lincolnshire soldiers achieved. The final part of our performance is to take the money to the charities that are described below, I feel that this connects with our idea of rejuvenation and reinventing the grandstand into something that it once was.

You can’t put a price on life

Lauren Olerenshaw / May 7, 2013May 13, 2013 / War and Loss

At what cost do you give a life?

‘The penny is 94 per cent steel, 1.5 per cent nickel and 4.5 per cent copper plating or copper-pated zinc.’ ((Graham, David(2013)Artists and craftspeople turn to the penny as a new creative medium, Online:www.thestar.com(accessed: 06 May 2013)).

Pennies are something we find annoying, you always have them, you always feel their not worth a lot and they take up to much space in your purse. If you have 100 pennies you make a pound, 1’ooo and you have ten pound and 9’ooo you have 90 pound.

Dale Dunning is a sculptor in Almonte, he mainly deals with metals and giving these metals a new purpose in his studio called the Lost and Foundry, one of his recent works was creating a mask made entirely from pennies, similarly in our piece we are creating the United Kingdom’s flag out of 9,ooo pennies. Each of these pennies represents the life of a soldier, the soldiers from the Lincolnshire regiment who gave their lives in ww1. Jeremy Deller describes the ideas in his book procession as ‘ Having an idea for this kind of thing is the easy part, making it happen is a much more time consuming process’. ((Deller. Jeremy (2010) Procession, cornerhouse and Manchester international festival)). We had to try many different ideas to find one simple yet effective enough to execute. Therefore we decided as a mark or respect and to tie in with our British theme all 9’000 of these pennies were to be The Queen’s head facing up. Eventually through the duration of the performance the entire flag would be completed, with our parting statement being ‘ 9’000 soldiers from the Lincolnshire regiment gave their lives to ww1′.

Our idea had taken a 360 degree turn, when first visiting the site, we felt almost as if its purpose had never changed as though it would be filled with spectators at any moment or looking out the window we would see a tank or would see soldiers lining the grassy banks. ‘If site-specific performance involves an activity, an audience and a place, then creative opportunities reside in the multiple creative articulations of us, them and there’. We visited each space, to feel them to find what they meant to us and how they could be used to the best of our ability. We then arrived to the Lincolnshire Archives and through extensive research started to develop passion towards certain areas, finding out the past of the Grandstand proved to be fascinating as it’s history went on for years so much so, we found out it wasn’t actually The Grandstand and The Grandstand had in fact been taken down and the stand we speak of as the Grandstand is actually The Tattershall stand. At first other members of the group shared my interest in a particular story of the Beechey brothers a famous story due to the nature of the mother Amy Beechey loosing five sons, through more research and development of ideas we knew in fact there was much more to it than what we were seeing. So many lives were lost so many grieving families and friends. How to focus on one specific story? In Mike Pearson’s book on ‘Site Specific Performance’ he states ‘ To outline stances, attitudes and presuppositions’ you ask ‘Who am I and what am I doing?’ ((Pearson, Mike (2010) Site specific performance, Palgrave macmillan)). We decided that we were not storytellers we wanted to present facts and we wanted the audience to understand how we felt for these soldiers who had given their lives for their country with Lincoln at the time having a population of around 45000 losing 9000 men is devastating. Many more were lost due to things such as the gas’s released from bombs.

The idea of the coins creating the picture came from the idea that all men in the war had vices. We spoke to a woman called Tracey who used to write to relatives and friends in ww2 and she said this’ I used to write to Paul my brother and friends like John and Nath the most because I knew they would look forward to getting them, it must have been horrible waiting for the post to arrive and you would be the only one not to receive any thing. I think you would feel so shut of and alone’. We thought for the Beechey brothers, letters were their vices, as in their letters they talk of all their correspondents. Through more research we found some men found comfort in things like poems and art. The picture we recreated was one that was drawn by a soldier form the Lincolnshire regiment.

With £90 worth of pennies we appreciated the sheer number frim the weight if carrying them around and laying them out, when we had finished what were we to do with the money, give it back? Discard of it? Or put it to good use, we found charities that we could acknowledge in relation with out site and our favourite charities were:

The first ‘Recycle a Race horse’ Lancaster based, it is a rehabilitation centre for ex race horses.

(( http://www.thoroughbredrehabilitationcentre.co.uk/contact.php))

The second ‘Bransby Horse, rescue and welfare’ this charity is based in Lincoln, it provides a sanctuary for equine animals that have

been abused and will try and find them a new loving home.

((http://www.bransbyhorses.co.uk/home/home%20about%20us% 20NEW.html))

The third ‘Scotty’s Little Soldiers’ A U.K charity that supports the children of those who have fought in the war, whether the soldiers

are fallen, injured or just away from home.

Not only were we aiming to make people aware of what these men did for us to let us live in the country we do today. But we were spreading a much wider message that men and women are still doing this, fighting for their country to defend our honour and to protect and serve every civilian. We have to acknowledge the fight and sacrifice they made and still make today. By giving the money to charity we are giving back, not enough to end all suffering, but enough to acknowledge we care and appreciate what they do.