Category: War and Loss

Looking at Mike Pearson’s Some approach’s to research he asks ‘In what ways can performance provide a context for mixed method research? How might it enable a synthesis of approaches, through a working together on site, about site? ((Pearson, Mike (2011) Some approach’s to research)). We asked ourselves how we could make a performance that would enable us to show all the research we had gathered so far, and how we could make it relevant to site. Although our initial idea was a performance based on the Beechey brothers and their letters home which was something we felt very passionate about, as we could not help but to feel a personal connection to the story through reading their letters and seeing so many personal items. However, further research provided us with statistics on how many lives were lost due to war and suddenly we were compelled to know more. We felt an emotional pull towards the Beechey brothers story as a mother lost five children, we then realised how many families lost relatives, nine thousand serving soldiers died, and many more people died due to  things such as the gases released, gases such as carbon monoxide. However remaining close to our original idea men lost at war and these men’s vices we needed a new idea. Nine thousand. How to stress the importance of this number? How do we provide a context for this figure?

We found the men had many vices, ways to focus there energy when of duty. This included things like poetry, writing and art, one of the pieces of art we were looking at drawn by a soldier from the Lincoln regiment, drew a British flag, which is what we recreated using string, as a performance on this string we will begin to place coins, and although initially we thought to let the audience contribute by laying coins we thought of the railings as a barrier and so wanted to restrain any contact by to the audience. In total nine thousand penny’s to represent each soldier from the Lincoln regiment who gave his life for his country. We feel this shows a good indication as to the sheer number of the fallen men. Weather permits, the idea of the sun shining on the coins which gives of a bright reflection, symbolises their lives and by using a very small denominator like the penny we are showing no matter, you can not put a price on life. For respect of Her Majesty The Queen serving soldiers we would place all coins queens head facing up, inspired by a task previously I had taken place in where the face of the head decided our direction. Deciding eventually after trying many methods, we would simply count stood on a mound of penny’s as the other members of our group would be turning the coins over and laying coins to fill the gaps to complete our image, they would take coins from  the counters feat and recreate the image of the flag.

Taking inspiration from Will Dorner, Gabby, Charlie and I attempted to use various spaces and objects to create shapes and images using various parts of our body. We tried to keep various forms of contact with each toher when creating these shapes, through linking arms or supporting each other in our positions for example.

‘Theatre is theatre but what do you get when you work outside of a theatre space’ ((Dorner, Willi 2005)) This was something we tried to keep in our minds while seeking inspiration. We tried to play with the idea that everywhere is a performance space and we should treat all spaces as a blank canvas and remain open minded.

Therefore when approaching our site we began to look at spaces, taking interest in the walls and the fireplaces an beams, falling in love with spaces because of these attributes. So we looked again but this time kept in mind the idea of a blank canvas as it didn’t matter what the space had it could be made to be ours however we wanted it. This is we began to be interested in outside spaces, being out in the open and fresh air made us feel free. Our choice was a patch of cross closed of with white railings. The railings should have made us feel confined and trapped, but had the opposite affect. We would however use the railings as a barrier from the audience to keep us separated from them, keeping us safe within.

‘Lincoln’s story’ a term given to us to summarise our research into The Beechey brothers, many people feel this story is not told enough and not enough people know about it. The case of the Beechey brothers is very famous due to the nature of the case. A woman, Amy who lived on Monks Road in Lincoln had eight children, five of which fought in battles such as The Somme and fought in countries such as Australia, all five of these children died, the only other case of a situation like this was in Gloucester. The Queen praised Amy Beechey for her sacrifice, Amy’s reply was this ‘It was no sacrifice Ma’am. I did not give them willingly’.

 

Further research has given us a personal connection to the story, Amy Beechey left to the Lincolnshire Archives many of her sons personal items, such as letters form the boys that they sent home, documents and death certificates. We have spent quite some time looking over these letters and documents trying to gain an understanding as to how they felt and what was going on at the time. We realised that for these boys the letters were a vice, a means for them to make it through each day, upon further research we found many men who fought the war had vices such as art, poetry, reading and writing. Although further research is needed, I don’t feel it is ever possible to truly understand what these men have lived through and seen, I feel it is possible though, to create a sensitive performance that does not just state the facts of their life and story but instead attempts to make audience members aware of significant emotional extracts.

The personal connection we feel, comes from a relatable relationship of family members, we gain a  sense of Amy Beechey’s fear for her sons lives and understand the level of pain she must of felt every time she received a letter. The pride she felt as they entered and the pain as they departed.  We can not help but to see the wider scale of this, this city must have been a city of sorrow as around 20% of lives are taken. Leaving so many citizens in the city devastated, not just mothers, but brothers, sisters, fathers and friends. We are yet to find a suitable way t represent the devastation, and to demonstrate an understanding of the amount of lives lost.