Women of War – Page 4

Come to the factories

Jamee-Lee Fleming / March 13, 2013May 6, 2013 / Women of War

Following onto the idea of women during the war, I have been focusing on the war posters. They were created during World War One and Two in aid of advertising the recruiting of jobs. Women before the war were known to be classed as housewives in which stereo-typically they did jobs such as nursing. It changed when the war began, men had to go to war and fight where “women were called upon to fill their jobs” (Barrow, 2011). For example factory work, farming, mechanics and engineering. So in order to help the soldiers, they had to do the work. There are many war posters around but this particular one stood out to me. The reason why it did was because as a group we are focusing on the war, especially in our sub groups; women of the war. The strong stance from the woman shows an invitation to others to come and help the men at war, and with the aeroplanes flying over it shows a representation of what she has done in able to help them.

(http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~pv/pv/courses/posters/images1/womenfact.jpg)

With the aeroplanes flying over head, it links in with Emily’s, Phoebe’s, Sophie’s and I’s idea on focusing on the making of the aeroplanes wings. I want to be able to create this image during the performance. Gabby came up with the idea of smashing cups and plates to represent the Roman pottery, which her group had found during their investigation of the site. I want to be able to use her materials and make the image of the poster above as a mosaic. The artist that inspired my idea is Mark Storor, he created a piece called “Our Caravan”. It is a “caravan completely mosaiced on the outside with broken china and filled with tea and an abundance of bakewell tarts” (Addicott) This installation was exhibited in firstsite gallery in March 2003. Whilst participating in a workshop with Mark himself. He showed us many art projects that he had created and the idea of the mosaic caravan stood out to me the most as it is a simple piece of art but it can have many ideas behind it and this is what I wanted with the outcome of the poster I will create.

Works Cited

Addicot, Matt. Workshops/ Matt Addico, Online: http://mattaddicott.com/MAWorkshops.html (accessed 13th March 2013)

Barrow, Mandy (2011) Jobs for Women during the War/ Britain since the 1930s, Online: http://www.chiddingstone.kent.sch.uk/homework/war/women.htm (accessed: 13^th March 2013)

Suppression versus Liberation

Sophie Jane Bullivant / March 8, 2013May 7, 2013 / Women of War

The notion of a journey is important to our Women of War performance piece, as we want to portray the transition that women took in society (as a direct effect of the war). To present the power and liberation that women gained during the war effectively, the Women of War group want to contrast the image with a representation of the lack of power that the women had previously.

The piece will begin outside, at the wall originally used to chain up the horses. One idea is to tie the female characters onto the wall, to symbolise how they were supressed in pre-war society. However, Pearson questions how performance can be “adjusted for different audiences” ((Pearson, Mike (2011) Some Approaches to Research, Online: http://blackboard.lincoln.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_67088_1%26url%3D (accessed Friday 8 March 2013).)), and in relation to our piece, we need to consider the age of our audience. Furthermore, the fact that our piece centres on war is significant to Pearson’s question, as awareness to sensitivity may be necessary for certain audience members. For example, we will use ribbon to tie the women to the wall, to ensure that the image is not too brutal, at a time when the notion of conflict is still resonant in our society. Another reason for the use of ribbon is that it will be taken directly from the garments that make up the cloth installation, revealed later in the piece. The ribbon will thus be a momentous aspect of the performance, as it links the outside scene to the inside. Equally, the image of the women tied to where the horses would have originally been kept connects the Grandstand’s war history with the more obvious history of the horseracing. Therefore, the idea can successfully “illuminate, explicate and problematize the multiplicity of meanings” ((Pearson, Mike (2011) Some Approaches to Research, Online: http://blackboard.lincoln.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_67088_1%26url%3D (accessed Friday 8 March 2013).)) that resound within the Grandstand.

Beginning to take shape

Sophie Jane Bullivant / March 2, 2013May 7, 2013 / Women of War

Our ideas and research is gradually developing into vivid performance pieces now. A particular practitioner of site-specific performance who has inspired us is John Newling and his recent performance Where a Place Becomes a Site (2013). His participatory performance involved an installation of a long yellow jacket, suspended from the ceiling of Broadmarsh shopping centre, which draped along the floor for members of the public to admire.

Newling’s performance relates to our Women of War theme, as we wish to recreate a sewing factory atmosphere inside the Grandstand. Therefore, we are similarly creating a long piece of cloth, from scraps of material throughout the ideas/rehearsal process, which will then become an installation for the final performance. The cloth represents the role of women during the world wars and their newfound purpose in life. The process of sewing the large piece of cloth is being regularly documented in videos, which we then hope to project onto the cloth itself during the performance. The group is keen to use the corridor space that connects the main room with the RAF room, and could otherwise be forgotten as ‘dead space’. Consequently, we want to install the cloth there, for the audience to view as they journey from one space to the next.

Newling was there in person at the shopping centre, to ask passers-by for a ‘value’ in their life, and in appreciation he offered them a small piece of the jacket material. The concept of audience participation is significant to the Grandstand site, as collectively as a group we all feel that it is important to capture the audience members’ thoughts, emotions and ideas for the future of the Grandstand, as part of the final performance. Furthermore, the ‘values’ that Newling collected during the performance “will become a script for this live reading at Nottingham Contemporary” ((Nottingham Contemporary (2013) Where a Place Becomes a Site: Values, A Reading, Online: http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/event/where-place-becomes-site-values-reading (accessed Wednesday 27 February 2013).)), and likewise our feedback from audience members will, we hope, become part of an ongoing process for the Grandstand’s future.

The prospect of our performance as a starting point for the revitalisation of the Grandstand is discussed by Mike Pearson, who states that performance can function as “occasioning a critical reappraisal of the inherent qualities of places rarely visited” ((Pearson, Mike (2011) Why Performance?, Online: http://blackboard.lincoln.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_716442_1&course_id=_67088_1 (accessed Saturday 2 March 2013).)). Thus, with a strong focus on research, there is the opportunity to place the site in the public eye once again, and to re-establish the Grandstand as a well-known landmark of Lincoln.

Site and Sense Part 1

Phoebe Wall-Palmer / February 24, 2013May 12, 2013 / Personal Posts, Women of War

Experimenting with the senses is something that is hugely inciting for any performer or director. Theatre tends to be a visual medium, whether it’s a physical piece with elements of dance and using the body to create art, or the West End where it’s often the spectacle of the grand stage that attracts audiences. This is also combined with the aural sense, from the music in a piece, to a single voice from centre stage entering into a monologue.

In class we formed a small group and took an element, or theme from the Grandstand as inspiration for a short performance. We created a piece that insisted on one of these major senses being removed or reduced and fused this with the theme of war. Making the room dark, with very limited visibility, we played audio of a sewing machine, Vera Lynn and Judy Garland singing war-time songs and a very faint sound of bombing. Simultaneously, we sprayed perfume on ‘love notes’ and kissed them with red lipstick on, before putting them in front of one of the audience members. We wanted to experiment with how the other senses would be heightened or warped because sight was limited.

The feedback from the audience suggested that the audio of the sewing machine sounded heavy and mechanical and when juxtaposed with the uplifting war-time song and the smell of vanilla from the perfume it created a stirring and effective contrast. When the lights were turned back on, the audience then saw the generically feminine kiss, in red lipstick. It meant there was a focus on the women in war. We discussed how the war, in many respects, gave women a sense of importance as they contributed to help there country, in the same light as the men fighting on the front line.

Rotozaza’s Etiquette is an example of using the aural sense to create a piece that challenges the participants/audience to trust in an unfamiliar voice, and transfer the voice into actions: ‘Etiquette exposes human communication at both its rawest and most delicate and explores the difficulty of turning our thoughts into words we can trust.’ ((Rotozaza (2007) Etiquette/Rotozaza’s Micro/Autoteatro Work, Online: http://www.rotozaza.co.uk/etiquette2.html [accessed 23 February 2013])) Rotozaza communicates the lack of confidence we have to act on our own thoughts. Etiquette allows for the participants to be directed by what feels like our own inner thoughts. Journalist, Jason Zinoman for The New York Times, also highlights the ‘way around the problem of pesky performers by giving the audience something else to look at: themselves.’ ((Zinoman, Jason (2007) ‘A Two Character Play Starring Both Members of the Audience’, The New York Times, Online: http://theater.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/theater/08frin.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1361744832-aav9iGUW/96EAQVDQ40abA [accessed 23 February 2013])) Rotozaza’s work is arguably so thought provoking because the audience is in the performance- they make the performance. Generally, the best way to learn from something is to experience it for oneself.

In our piece we wanted the audience members to sit around the room, with no order or centre focus, as there was nothing to see visually. With the audience all around and between us, we hoped that the experience would surround them, so that they felt within the performance, in the same light as Etiquette. It would be interesting to experiment with the sound recordings playing on headphones and wearing a blindfold. Or, to make it a one-to-one experience, an audience member could just be in the room, in the dark by themself. Rotozaza suggests there is a ‘resulting thrill of disowning responsibility in a performance situation.’ ((Rotozaza (2007) Etiquette/Rotozaza’s Micro/Autoteatro Work, Online: http://www.rotozaza.co.uk/etiquette2.html [accessed 23 February 2013])) Therefore, the use of headphones, for example, would allow the audience to trust the sound and be coerced into whatever or wherever the performance wants to take them.

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.