The T.A.N.K. group originally wanted to to represent the claustrophobic environment that the interior of a real tank would have created by performing to a small percentage of the audience at a time. We were going to create a tent-like structure of material in between the caterpillar tracks made of chairs to make the body of the tank. Three actors would have supported this structure while one performed inside to between 1 and 3 audience members, and the speaker would swap with one of those outside each time new audience members arrived.
This idea partly stemmed from a discussion about The Long and Winding Road, a live art project by Michael Pinchbeck; particularly the section where Pinchbeck wrote a one-to-one performance piece intended to take place inside a parked car that had been the center of the project. ((Pinchbeck, M (n.d.) The Long and Winding Road, Online: http://www.michaelpinchbeck.co.uk/installation/the-long-and-winding-road/ Accessed 10th April 2013)) We had information about the experiences of those trusted with testing the first tanks, including the dangers they were faced with, and we wanted to impart that information in a personal and direct way. Inviting the audience into our vehicle to listen at close quarters seemed like an excellent way to create the level of intimacy we were looking for.
It was then that we began generating ideas on how to mix that feeling of direct interaction and intimacy with claustrophobia and unease. A dark space and dim lighting weren’t enough; we placed significance in the proximity between audience and actor once inside the tank, specifying that they must be so close together that their knees touch. Adrian Howells’ work uses physical closeness and intimacy as an important factor. An example we looked at was The Pleasure of Being: Washing, Feeding, Holding “An intensely intimate and deeply sensorial one-on-one experience, over half an hour Adrian will bathe your entire body (either naked, or in a bathing costume) in a luxurious bath of moisturising milk, rose petals and essential oils before wrapping you in a large, fluffy towel, cradling you in his arms, feeding you white Belgian chocolate and holding you.” (( n.a. (2011) The Arches presents The Pleasure of Being: Washing, Feeding, Holding at the Edinburgh Fringe Online: http://www.thearches.co.uk/events/arts/may-i-have-the-pleasure-2 accessed 10th April 2012 )) However, Howells uses a large dose of intimacy in a calming, friendly and non-threatening circumstance. For our own piece we understood that in the environment we wanted to make, something as simple as knees touching could create tension and unease, and this is the effect we desired.
Additionally, the use of masks similar to those worn by tank crews during the First World War (( National Army Museum (2010) Tank Mask Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61Iz3_2_XXg Accessed 10th April 2013 )) could have created an interesting juxtaposition between the sense of personal conversation with a feeling of intimidation.
This approach proved impractical at such an early stage because we did not have enough knowledge about the size of the audience or the structure of the overall performance of Safe Bet. Would the audience be visiting each group all together in a linear fashion, or would they end up visiting each segment at their own pace, as though viewing installations in an art gallery?