Author Archives: Megan Langer

5. Perspectives

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After the horrible rain we experienced this morning, we decided to venture into the Cathedral. Whilst we were walking around we saw not only the beauty of the Cathedral from the inside, but also many different people, from the elderly to young families. Tim Etchells talks about “the strange fragments and endless possibilities of people passing each other in the street” (Etchells, 1999, 79), a phrase I kept thinking about during the lesson. Each one of us will see the Cathedral in a different light (from a different perspective), from the people who first built the Cathedral to those who grew up around the site to visitors and tourists seeing it for the first time. We then spent time thinking about the type of performance we as a group would like to do, and all of us liked the idea of perspectives. Whether this be through the mind of a child, perhaps in the form of telling stories about the Cathedral, or through the means of photographs, to literally and historically look at viewpoints of the Cathedral. Whilst bad weather can be a challenge for any site specific performer outside, for us it was a welcomed help.

Etchells, T. (1999) Certain Fragments. London: Routledge.

4. Exploration

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In this session we really explored different ways of thinking about the site, whether it be creating text fragmentations inspired by the area, creating our own unconventional map or making up a misguided tour. Fleur and I spent our time around the site looking at it from different perspectives, particularly in terms of the idea of “play”. As Peter Brook infamously said, “I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage” (Brook, 1972, 11), and this is an idea that a lot of our “creations” from the session our rooted in. When making our new map of the site, we thought about the different senses of the place, such as its sounds and visual shapes, not just what was physically there in front of us when we wandered around. We noted down interesting moments on our walk, creating something that was very personal to that moment. Similarly, on our misguided tour, we looked at the area from a child’s perspective, transforming what was there into our own playground in which we moved, gestured and acted younger than normal. This allowed us a freedom in “performing” in an open space in front of the public, using the mask of acting as children. This session was a really great way into thinking about how we can view the site and the different possibilities available to us.

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My session notes, including my map.

Brook, P. (1972) The Empty Space. London: Penguin Books.

3. Secret Places

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Walking up Steep Hill and drifting around the Cathedral quarter of the city was a great experience, and I took many photos for documentation. The old history and nature of the area intertwines with the new to create a “timelessness” to the place, with its “never ending” paths and hidden doors making our walk feel like a real exploration and adventure. The Cathedral is clearly at the heart and height of the city, metaphorically and literally. As Phil Smith says, “the exploratory element of the drift is…to see as if for the first time all the things you already know” (Smith, 2010, 119), an idea that resonated with myself, having lived up Steep Hill last year. My favourite place to see was the secret garden and the rooftop nearby it, seeming to be both open and hidden to the world surrounding it. I feel these would be a perfect place to perform a piece of site-specific theatre, perhaps in relation to the Cathedral that towers next to them or using the idea of secrets.

The Cathedral from the garden.

The rooftop.

Smith, P. (2010) Mythogeography: A Guide to Walking Sideways. Devon: Triarchy Press

2. The Gates

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The Gates, an installation for New York Central Park that began in 1979 and was completed in February 2005, was created by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. A total of 7503 saffron coloured fabric gates were placed in the park, seeming like “a golden river appearing and disappearing through the bare branches of the trees”.  (Christo, 2015) When asked what inspired the pair, aside from the basic aesthetic beauty, they said their “attention turned toward the vast flow of people walking through the streets”. (Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 2007) In the simplicity of their ode to a city they loved and the people within it, the beauty of their work can be appreciated up close or from a far. This has shown me how a site specific piece of work needn’t be grand in design or meaning to be appreciated. I really love the way they transform a space using just material, and hope that I will be able to take one of the places up Steep Hill and bring the space alive as they do.

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(Inkeri, 1979, cited in christoandjeanneclaude.net, undated)

Christo. (2015) The Gates. [online] Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Available from: http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/projects/the-gates#.VMopb2isUb2 [Accessed 29 January 2015].

Christo and Jeanne-Claude. (2007) Christo and Jeanne-Claude in Their Own Words. [online] New York: New York City. Available from: http://www.nyc.gov/html/thegates/html/qanda.html [Accessed 29 January 2015].

Inkeri, E. (1979) The Thousand Gates (Project). [online] Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Available from http://christojeanneclaude.net/projects/the-gates#.VMorimisUb0 [Accessed 29 January 2015].

1. Liminal Spaces

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Patrice Pavis refers to site specific performance as “a place in the real world” (Pavis, 1998, 337-338), an idea that we explored in our first lesson. Using the medium of a “subtle mob”, we were asked to follow a list of instructions to help us engage with the space outside of the Performing Arts Centre. By using movements and actions that would appear natural and ordinary to our audience of passer bys, such as walking, taking photographs, looking around, we were able to play with the idea of what a performance is or could be. This liminal space, a space “inbetween” that many people passed through and by, was an effective way for us to explore this new way of performing outside many of our comfort grounds. We later discussed the difference between a performance that can be generically moved, like the subtle mob, and a performance specific to a particular location, such as up Steep Hill. Whilst at first daunting, I am now excited to begin creating a new kind of performance.

Pavis, P. (1998) Dictionary of the Theatre: Terms, Concepts, and Analysis. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.