Safe Bet – Page 18 – Site Specific Performance

Creating shapes

Lauren Olerenshaw / March 11, 2013May 10, 2013 / War and Loss

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.

The Beechey brother’s

Lauren Olerenshaw / March 11, 2013May 10, 2013 / War and Loss

‘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.

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.

Aircraft At The Grandstand- Part 1

Christopher Greg Sellers / March 6, 2013May 13, 2013 / War and Loss

Since analysing the design and information associated with World War 1 aircraft based in Lincolnshire at Lincoln Archives, my ideas ideas have developed further. . My first obstacle was to recreate the aircraft . I thought about functioning this through projections, or even through small scale models. However, the Lincoln based Beechly Brothers tale, which the group also explored , opened up the theme to me of loss. Examining some of the letters I learnt that every soldier who died in battle was a son of a mother , he left behind. Therefore, this took me to explore the notion of a young person creating a plane; and a child may portray this through a paper aeroplane. I proposed that children could design and write their names on the planes. Therefore, an element of the Grandstand’s history is embedded into today’s Grandstand. It afterall is true that “Everyone’s either lost somebody or knows somebody who has” ((Barker, 2009, p134)).

Photos of the aircraft design I am trying to replicate

20130213_113546

An advancement of this idea though came when studying the letters, and linking the connection to sending letters home and hopefully sending the aircraft and it’s airmen home too. Consequently, each of my paper aeroplanes will be made out of soldiers letters home. I, furthermore thought it would be such a hands on experience for the audience to make the planes themselves. By employing this mode of performance the audience will get a real sense of “ a nostalgia for a public domain in dynamic dialogue with it’s inhabitants……A restoration of the absent present” ((Pearson, 2010, p46)).

Works Cited

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

Barker, Pat (1991) Regeneration,Middlesex: Penguin Books

Racing Silence.

Rachel Miller / March 6, 2013May 13, 2013 / The Odds Are Stacked

Mike Pearson states in Why Performance (2011) that ” Performance can enhance public appreciation and understanding” ((Pearson, Mike (2010) Site Specific Performance, London: Palgrave Macmillan)) When discussing our preferred outcome for the performance, the overall decision was about giving the Grandstand it voice back to the community of Lincoln. Therefore i found Pearson’s point very relevant to our site piece as the Grandstand is no longer being used for its original purpose or hardly at all. It is now just merely a site being seen through the window of a car or a caged looking obstacle in the periphery of a drifting civilian. However instead we want to make it a site to be seen and appreciated for its true history and its role in being an important part of Lincolns heritage. As well as identifying the Grandstand as being isolated in terms of where it is situated in relation to such historical buildings as the Cathedral, the building its self can be seen as quite misunderstood.

In relation to past class exercises Myself, Eloise, Emma, Charlie and Kash expressed our interest in resuscitating the Grandstand’s voice through a silent performance but with written opposing themes on post it notes which we placed over our mouths. We stood in front of a projection depicting an old sepia photo from the Lincoln Handicap. This showed a busy scene of the site alive with crowds of people and therefore was the antithesis to our sticky silence. There was one element of a crowd sound which we played to enhance the business of the picture behind us. With neutral faces as we tore each layer of post it note off, each singular word dropped slowly to the ground. Such themes as winning,losing, loud quiet, grief were written in capitals all relating to the feelings and atmosphere of what the spectating audience would of been experiencing and therefore we wanted our audience to think about what those losses were and what was the lasting affects from going to a day at the races. Were any of those themes linked with memories made in that place? Our developing performance we also found related well to Pearson’s statement that ” Performance can provoke questions about the attachment of memory to place” (( Pearson,Mike ( 2011) Why Performancehttp://www.landscape.ac.uk/landscape/documents/eventpapers/toolkit/1whyperformance.pdf Accessed 12/3/2013 )) In particular we wanted to focus on the theme of loss and what it feels like to loose.

As a result from feedback and observation of our performance we found that the way in which the post it notes had been dis guarded on the floor, was quite representative of forgotten lost or thrown away betting and race tickets. Furthermore our interest continued to now focus on loss and what those possible failed gambles on horses did to people and families living in Lincoln at the time and equally now, in a present day betting shop.

Finally we drew our attention to the horses themselves and their voices. As the only living and breathing main purpose of the Grandstand, we considered as they loose a race, how much their passiveness as an animal, fades them into the background and that their experiences and treatment in the space is missing or not even considered accountable.

The Horse as a missing body, the unspoken hero’s of keeping the Grandstand breathing for as long as it did. This leads further to more questions of comparing the difference between the spectators loss from a race, and then the horse/ horses that loose the race.

Taking into consideration that horses have been bearing the weight of he human race for thousands of years apart from animal activist groups possibly and My Little Pony horses their silence has been long lasting however that relationship between the two different species has remained close. Some earlier evidence of this is shown below and proves how the Horse has been a key figure of helping advance technology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrRUDS1xbNs

Shown above is one of the first moving motion pictures. Created by photographer Eadweard Muybridge in 1878. Called ” Horse ( Occident) trot with sulky) and taken at Palo Alto stock farm in California triggered by a trip wire as the horse galloped down a track past twelve stereoscopic cameras. This short revolutionary film helps to show the beauty and mechanics of the horse itself as a body and what power it emulates. ((Muybridge Eadweard,1878,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrRUDS1xbNs,Accessed March 6 2013))

However as we run our race through victory and defeat will they continue to run theirs in silence but after our performance who will reign supreme?