Background personal research influence:

When we enter the space we take our time, then take our time ‘connecting’ to objects. Holding stroking and hugging objects. We then knock the space down. Sav questions why we would want to connect to manmade objects.

This is a subtle exploration of the idea of freedom. In the 1960’s and early 70’s during the flower power movement Hippies protested against the Vietnam War. We are on the brink of nuclear war. There are countries in the world who are dictated and told how to dress and act, who aren’t free. Yet, most people if asked if they are free would predominantly answer that they are. In society, we are told what is ‘girly’ such as wearing heels and what is ‘manly’ such as sports and young children are often chastised if they do not follow the social norms regarding our gender and this therefore restricts the amount of freedom we have. Therefore, we question this within the short piece we are building and currently creating for our first showings, ‘what is freedom’, ‘when you can’t even control what you wear’.

Ontroerend Goed ‘World Without Us’

Link: http://www.ontroerendgoed.be/en/projecten/world-without-us/

Quotes:

‘We could hardly imagine it: no mortgages, no knitting scarves, no swimming pools, no butterfly strokes and no more honey kept in glass bowls. That animals would no longer be stuffed, skyscrapers no longer be built, no more suicide and no mathematics. There would be no more talk about the old days, about what's possible.’

‘The image of the outside world that meets the inside world is not only very beautiful, it's also a poetic summary of Ontroerend Goed's body of work, always trying to make different realities shift into one another, to allow fiction and reality to pervade each other.’ - Evelyne Coussens

‘In its vastness, World Without Us underlines our insignificance – how things carry on in our absence – and looks at our lasting effect on the planet, philosophically as well as ecologically. Plastics stick around for centuries on centuries; far longer than knowledge or art. Nature retakes our cities. What, exactly, do we leave behind? What have we made that's worth anything? Everything ends anyway.’

“That animals would not be stuffed”

“…there would be no more talk about the old days, about what’s possible.”

“Narrates a story of the room the audience is sitting in”

- ‘lets picture that for just a moment’ (our piece)- We take them through the room they are in and attempt to get the audience to picture

something else, the world outside.

“it plays a subtle game with sound, with presence and absence”

- Maybe think about how we could explore this more?- How can seven people make an audience member feel calm? – breathing our

weekly technique class – breathing while using the abdominal muscles releases

serotonin in the brain which creates a relaxing sensation, we invite the audience to breathe with us.

“it is rather the imaginative virtuosity of the ensemble as a whole (including the audience)…”

- We very much work as an ensemble throughout- Audience participation within our performance (inviting the audience to breathe with

us, to take off their shoes, to feel connected with us, etc.)

Forced Entertainment: Links: https://www.forcedentertainment.com/about/how-we-work/

Sources: ‘Play on, A collaborative process’ by Tim Etchells.

Quotes:

‘With a few exceptions we don’t work with a ready-made text so making a show starts with us in a rehearsal room – discussing ideas, raiding the dressing-up box, trying a line of dialogue, playing a soundtrack, improvising a scene until something starts to stick. Then we keep developing the material – we experiment with it, debate it, videotape it, watch it, adapt and edit it before trying it on an audience which can open up a whole new set of questions.’

Jamie Wood

Link: http://www.jamiewood.org.uk/blog/

Quotes:

‘Through the performance there is an attempted sharing between the two communities, this is the theatrical event. When it is successful in a moment the line between the two communities blur and a dialogue is achieved. The exchange is complicated in contemporary devised theatre, the audience is invited to read the individual personalities of the people who made the work. They are invited to read how successful the community has worked together in the creation of the performance as well as how successful the community is performing as the action unfolds in the present.’

Link: https://playstosee.com/jamie-wood-i-tree/

Quotes:

‘Jamie is caught between worlds as he fondly remembers the sounds of chirping birds, but also recalls the drone of cars driving through London. It is a show about a man trying to maintain a close relationship with nature, even when the hustle and bustle of the city threatens to take that away.’

‘There is a peaceful energy in the show as Jamie’s memories slide into focus.’

‘Jamie accesses the wonder of nature in several ways: he takes an exquisite pleasure in eating a plum, which is a way for him to directly communicate with the vast natural world. He

also performs a salutation to the north, south, east and west as a way to express gratitude to the earth for its existence. Intricately hidden in Jamie’s nest of hair is a plastic bottle containing fake hallucinogens – pieces of raisin – that are dished out to chosen audience members. The whole experience of I Am a Tree is designed to be ecstatically spiritual in its appreciation of how ancient the world is’.

‘I Am a Tree resists categorisation: is it theatre or therapy? Regardless of the nomenclature, the show succeeds in creating an atmosphere of relaxation and reflection.’

How do make a nature ritual link: https://www.care2.com/greenliving/how-to-design-a-nature-ritual.html

ONO!“…a psychedelic ride and wonky homage to the woman damned for destroying the Beatles, O No! borrows Yoko Ono’s art instructions to ask whether falling in love is always catastrophic”

“it will challenge the boundaries of life and art, politics and nudity.”

Jamie Wood, from his clothes and facial hair to his positive and calm persona comes across as very ‘hippie’ like. From the moment you enter the theatre right up until you leave the theatre you are left wondering if that’s his real personality or is he playing a character.

- We want to replicate this believeability within our own performance.- We want the audience to believe the personas we create and everything we do within

the space to be true to us.- As a result we decided to participate in activities associated with real hippies such as

a yoga class (Were we explored more breathing techniques and stretches) and a nature walk in which we explore nature.

I AM A TREE:

“Jamie also has a penchant for hugging these assistants, who were previously strangers”

- Considering hugging the audience members as they enter the space

“…they each win a trophy of broccoli – as Jamie says “we are all trees”

- Giving the audience member something- We were considering giving the audience member something as they entered the

space e.g a flower/ flower crown, maybe something more symbolic similar to the broccoli representing a tree?

“…there is a peaceful energy in the show”

“…is it theatre or therapy”

Jamie attempts to explore nature in various way within the space.

- Whistling a long to a (recorded) bird whistle- Eating a plum- “performs a salutation”

Think about the ways in which we could explore this? – if we were to open the space maybe something changes? A recording or a smell is somehow played/released.

Think about how we could play with the audiences senses throughout?

- Touch (e.g, the leaves on the floor for the blind)- Smell, an earthly smell (e.g, incense?)

Elevator Repair Service: Source: ERS Reading Pack

Referring to one another by our real names (Sean, Sav, Becca…)

“…draws upon the ordinary everyday world in order to move beyond it”

“…accurate vignettes presenting character types often rendered bizarre by the isolation of a detail”

- Charlotte – always ‘feels’ it

Sean – never opens his eyes, the ‘guru’ type figure of the group etc

“…make no attempt to ‘fit’ with the character they perform”

- Sav?- Maybe everyone else refers to one another by their ‘hippie’ names except sav?- Sav consistently calls us by our ‘normal names’- E.g, Sav: “we’re all manmade Kelly”, Kelly: “Dawn”