Tag: Greg Sellers

In addition, to emphasize the sombre mood and general outlook of war, it was inferred that the planes could have the names of Lincolnshire airmen who had died written on them. Perhaps, to provide extra realism  I could offer a 1942 briefing to my participating audience . They would then be given their plane and will fly it. Afterwards, they will be informed that the particular veteran they played has died and possibly a brief summary of this. Although the briefing worked in practice, I felt that this was too harrowing and could spark ethical issues. The personal connection is still profound as each participant is flying a Lincolnshire airmen’s model. There were even plans to ,every time a plane is thrown, remove a penny as a life is extinguished.  The planes are to be flown into the pennies, in other words they will be destroyed .  Through a demonstration we learnt that after being briefed alongside the wall in groups of approximately 7 and flying the aircraft, each spectator turned airman should add a penny to the work in progress union jack.  We consequently answer the question “Can the audience be assigned a role: as witnesses to be questioned after the reconstruction of the incident?” ((Pearson, 2011)).

 

 

 Area Of The Grandstand In Which The Aircraft Will Be Flown From 

 

Works Cited

Peason, Mike (2011)  Perfomrance Composition Online: http://blackboard.lincoln.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2

Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_67088_1%26url%3D  (accessed 5th April 2013)

 

 

 

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 

 

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

 

 

 

This week I was to attach particular descriptions on cards to a site, specific to the description on that card.  I found this task to be very interesting, in locating different sites which from everyday objects.  Perhaps, just like Willy Dorners work the descriptions may enable performers to work within the certain perspective of the site.

 

Card 1 : ” The shop window disintegrates almost in slow motion”

There was a crack in the window which therefore looks like the window is disintegrating when passing in slow motion.

Card 2- “We zoom in very closely on a crack in the pavement. A definite tremor”

The force of the tree is causing cracks in the ground as the roots have pushed their way through. I found on my travels many cracks in the pavement but they didn’t seem to be the result of a bigger force .

 

Clue 3- ” “This is an anxious tension in the air. A slight crackle”

My first thought seeing the card state “a crackle in the air” was to find lightning, or wind. Then my thoughts turned to a metaphorical sense  music from the night club  expressing a certain emotion crackling the air. However, whilst on my drift I spotted a flickering lamp whose rays crackled the night sky. It then gave me an idea. The glow of a lamp definitely shines into the air, casting a light which forces it’s impact upon a scene. When a light is being turned on the crackle is only slight as the bulb bursts into full emission.

To conclude, all these descriptions could trigger an idea for a site specific performance, can have many meanings and don’t simply state a certain site . Descriptions and sites can  be overlapped so that just like my journey we can drift from site to site and see a continuous journey of society, of a developing narrative and of performance.

 

Since being introduced to the concept of drifting , I have done a lot of it, especially at night because my senses are more alert and  hidden aspects of things you wouldn’t normally see can be spotted.

I observed people’s style of walk , finding that there were so many different walking styles. Some people walked on an angle taking small steps indicating a nervousness and urge to escape from the situation.    Others took huge strides, leading straight forwards, implying they knew where they were heading, and nothing was going to stop this. I did notice that people on their own tended to walk a lot quicker . This was further emphasized for any hooded characters, suggesting that they want to be hidden from society too. Only a few walked with purpose but in a relaxed manner.

I needed to experiment with the touch of different surfaces. I went up to Lucy Tower and found the concrete surface left sediment after being trod on. After the recent snowy weather, the grit on the road also stuck to my shoes and littered the area. The uneven brick ground along the Brayford was slippery.

When walking at different paces,  certain senses are definitely heightened  When walking at a slow pace , the truck seams to grind to a halt. Depending on how fast I walk, the water levels seem to change too. Even the wind , when walking fast is audible and the lights in the car park seem to blend together. Finally, when observing a picture above Lincoln Theatre Royal the picture, when moving steadily, seems to move to the same rhythm as my footsteps.

Any watery surface distorts a reflection like a house of mirrors as does my reflection in a rainy car window.  When I touch smooth objects , my overall feeling is one of happiness, though if I feel something rigid I feel more alert. I could feel the uneven cobble through the soles of my shoes. Furthermore, I found that habitats could be anything , the sky is a habitat for clouds and the bin a habitat for rubbish. When trying to imagine at the cathedral that I am on Table Top  Mountain I can envisage the peaks and even though it was a cold night, I started to feel warmth through my jacket so the image had a lasting impression on my senses.

It was time to head back home, but more drifts will follow, and probably during the day to capture a different experience  My sense , emotions and imagination helped me to realize that “memory is a part of everyday experience  (Nora, 1992, p1).  Site specific performance becomes all the more interesting when that memory is lodged so that a traveller’s tale is perused  “when someone goes on a trip he has something to tell about ” (Benjamin, 1992, p84).

Work Cited

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

 

 

 

 

I constantly spend on average a couple of days waiting for course books to be dispatched from Amazon.co.uk   I wait anxiously and frustratingly thinking sometimes that they will not arrive, and therefore order products early. I wait for the stock, in particular of Amazon because they have a range of products. Sometimes I only need to wait one day, but these types of products are rather expensive so I  consequently spend more time waiting for the  cheaper products.