February 2013 – Page 2

The Inspection

Jamee-Lee Fleming / February 24, 2013May 11, 2013 / Uncategorized

“How am I affected? What do I feel? What do I perceive? And what do I experience” (Pearson 2010, p. 22)

As I went round the back of the grandstand, there were a set a horse stables which were derelict. There was a door which had “no authority” signed onto it. Inside had individual compartments stuffed with old planks of wood and tree branches pressed down with metal barred doors with a lock on. So not only was the Grandstand an abandoned building but also its surroundings. There was fresh hoof prints in the mud which gave the signal that there are horses still around. Next door to the old stables where a new set of other ones, this gave the impression that the old stables were not getting used for a certain reason.

We also saw that the announcement speakers had been taken down, Danny came up with the idea of the Grandstand losing its voice towards the society of what it had been. This goes back to how the site can be portrayed as a prison because of it not allowing to have a voice and feeling of being alone.

As we were searching the grounds of the Grandstand, I felt as though I was trespassing because the only people that was there were we. Especially because this was my first visit around the site, it made me feel uncomfortable and very unwelcoming. This sets questions in my head such as does anyone else feel the same way and is that why you never seen around there? Why does it not get used regularly? Maybe I won’t feel alien to it when I visit more.

Investigation: Images of space.

Charlotte Restall / February 24, 2013May 13, 2013 / Uncategorized

Everyday spaces go unnoticed by the world. These unnoticed spaces show a “disquieting familiarity of the city” ((Certeau, Michel de (1988[1984]) The Practice of Everyday Life, trans. Steven Rendall, Berkeley, Calif. London : University of California Press. p. 96.)), they may be acknowledged for their existence and use but not used. It seems as though most people don’t have time to appreciate things for their potential and therefore “to walk is to lack a place” ((Certeau, Michel de (1988[1984]) The Practice of Everyday Life, trans. Steven Rendall, Berkeley, Calif. London : University of California Press. p. 103.)), this suggests ‘dead’ space between points. However, the space you use while walking could be interacted with. For example: a hallway between rooms where it’s function serves to connect two or more rooms. By exploring these sorts of unnoticed spaces in different ways it creates a new meaning for them. As a task we were able to give a new use for these spaces then use free writing to create a response to the site.

Free writing in response to image:

Lonely. Alone. Stillness like a button. Chosen. Choice. Decaying city. Metal ice cold hard shiny surface. The coldness burns. Ache, torn between metal and flesh. Symmetrical symmetry Mirror image of a lifeless face. Mirror. Cold and empty like a grave. Stillness in death. Death. Dead. Dead cold icy stare searing into a heart. Heart beating strong, death. Stop. Dead. Cold. Ice. Bitter face.

The Grandstand

Charlie Jane Doherty / February 13, 2013May 10, 2013 / The Odds Are Stacked

When our class was first told by Michael Pinchbeck that the site our class might perform in was The Grandstand I had to ask what it was. As a second year drama student at Lincoln University I thought if I don’t know this place would our audience know it?

When I first visited The Grandstand, I thought that the building seemed isolated and abandoned from the rest of the city as it seemed so far away from the cathedral, the restaurants and the shops. I feel that it looked like the building had been neglected and shut off from the public because the front of The Grandstand was surrounded by a metal barrier so that the general public were restricted from going up to what used to be the seating area 240 years ago as it looked damaged and unsafe.

It was interesting to discover the history of the building; the fact that the site was used 240 years ago as a racecourse for horse racing really intrigued me so I went home and researched more about its history.

I discovered that the Grandstand was rebuilt in 1896 giving us the building that we all see today which is at the end of Carholme road and opposite the West Common. During the nineteenth century entrance to the grandstand cost a guinea and several race meetings were held at the grandstand every year. One of the most popular race meetings was The Lincolnshire Handicap; it was established in 1849 and took place in August. In 1857 the August meeting was stopped and the moved to the spring this became the main meeting in Lincoln.

I also found out that the racing was suspended for the duration of the world wars and when it was resumed the fortunes of the racetrack was in serious decline.

July, 22, 1964- The Echo reports on the announcement of the end of racing at Lincoln which was relocated to Doncaster Racecourse.

After the City stopped the funding to the Grandstand the racing was relocated to Doncaster Racecourse, today the Grandstand is used as a community centre until the Lincolnshire City Council decides what they want to do with the building.

Crime scene

Sophie Jane Bullivant / February 13, 2013May 7, 2013 / Women of War

The company Forced Entertainment stated how once you know a place well you can confuse the notions of fact and fiction when presenting to an audience. The idea was portrayed in their coach tour performance Nights in this City (1995), where the guide pretended through a comical narrative that Sheffield was alternative cities, such as Rome and Berlin.

Similarly, it feels as though our Site-Specific group are gradually becoming more familiar with the Grandstand location, and we too can start to “negotiate the collapses and collisions of facts and fictions” ((Hill, Leslie and Helen Paris ed. (2006) Performance and Place, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.)). For example, after last Wednesday’s practical session exploring the exterior and surrounding environment of the Grandstand, Phoebe, Emily and I ‘reconstructed’ our findings in the LPAC. Our discovery of vehicle tracks, paw prints, a hearing-aid, a pair of boxer pants, barbed wire and a glove, (being factual pieces of the site) then became part of a ‘crime scene’ narrative.

Furthermore, Mike Pearson’s question of whether the experience was a “quest” (2010, p. 21) emphasised our imaginary roles as ‘detectives’, and consequently we saw the Grandstand from a different perspective. The question of a “prescribed or proscribed” ((Pearson, Mike (2010) Site-Specific Performance, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.)) site also sparked our imaginations, and helped us to envisage new themes for our performance.

Entrances to Hell

Stephenie Clubley / February 12, 2013May 11, 2013 / Uncategorized

Entrances2Hell.co.uk describes itself as “The constantly updated catalogue of entrances to Hell in and around the UK”. It is a tongue-in-cheek collection of photographs depicting dilapidated or unusual doorways that don’t seem to fit with the scenery around them. They are submitted by users from all around the UK and after being authenticated by the website administrators they are listed on the website with a name and it’s own fictitious mythology, often with humorous results.

“Airfix has a reputation as a place where lovers meet and is where the devil finally married his 2 childhood sweethearts Milly the Milkmaid and Linda M. Daventree in 1761. Since their marriage these two have given birth to almost 17 billion little-devils who have already been sent to distant star systems to follow in their fathers foosteps. Birdsong here is always performed as an improvisation around the chords B flat minor and G7. The tunnel of Airfix has had the new long-life light bulbs installed along its entire length.” (Entrances to hell around the UK: Airfix, n.d.)

There do not seem to be any specific guidelines for spotting an ‘entrance to hell’, but from studying many of the photographs the general consensus is that these places are mostly neglected, grubby spots in an urban landscape that look anomalous. Many of them are places that would be unsettling to loiter around alone in the dark, and if they did happen to be portals to an other-worldly dimension it may be fair to say that it would not be an ideal tourist attraction.

This photo, taken at the Lincoln grandstand, depicts a keystone and archway above a patch of brickwork that looks conspicuous amongst the rest of the wall. This suggests there used to be a doorway here. In Mike Pearson’s Theatre/Archaeology, he asks us to consider an archaeological artefact. “Do not begin with the question, ‘What is it?’ Instead ask ‘What does it do?’. Enquire of its social work: What does it connect through its design, exchange and consumption?” (2001, p.53) The reason for the closure of this door is most likely simple disuse, but walled-up doorways always present room for curiosity and questions. One cannot help but wonder what kind of doorway once stood there, for whose use it was intended, and where it once led. Are there any traces of the other side of the doorway on the interior of the building? If there are not, it only adds to how unnatural the traces on the outside look. An open doorway can look mystical and inviting; a closed doorway can look threatening but still prompt our inquisitiveness.

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