Author: Elizabeth Soper

“Bye, Bye Bunny.”

Elizabeth Soper / / Documentation, Home, Performance process, West Parade

“ We’ve always been interested in the idea of a speech, a formal utterance: the framing of something – ‘I have come to tell you this,’ or ‘I am about to tell you this.’” ((Williams, David and Carl Lavery (2011) Good Luck Everybody: Lone Twin: Journeys, Performances, Conversations, Wales: Cambrian Printers, p.203))

‘Hello, my name is Libby and I have been a white rabbit since the 19th of February, which is 76 days today! Welcome to the kitchen, can I get you a drink?’ This is how I began my performance; simple and direct. Because it is very simple: I dress as a rabbit and get filmed doing everyday normal tasks. Some people laugh at me, some people take photos.  Some children stare at me, some children cry. I always get a reaction though, whatever it is.

The Safe House was a project that generated a lot of different audience reactions from the various activities and happenings that took place in each room. The outcome I very much wanted to achieve from my performance was to initially shock the audience, because, quite frankly, you wouldn’t expect a giant rabbit to burst into your living room every day! I wanted this mood to quickly change however when they entered the kitchen and realised; I am Libby who just so happens to be wearing a white rabbit costume, discussing my many adventures over a cup of tea and a bag of sweets.

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Photo taken: 01/03/2013 – ‘The Impossible Tasks’

“On the other hand, there are signs that theatre can provide meaningful forms of audience participation and engagement.” ((Freshwater, Helen (2009) theatre and audience, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, p.76))

With my performance being conversational, in some respect, my audience had a role to play. Without their contribution, their questions and opinions, my performance wouldn’t be as enjoyable and therefore I wanted them to open up and relax in order to fully engage with my performance. Luckily, all of them did (some more than others) and mentioned how they enjoyed being in the space, even commenting that they didn’t want to leave!

Over the 76 days of being dressed as a rabbit, I have collected feedback and reactions from my different audiences through film and documentation. For my performance I wrote out some phrases (with my bunny hands), quoting my audience’s reactions and hung them on the wall. Over the performance period I carried on collecting and added to my list the ones I found the most interesting. ‘You’re a very lovely bunny’ and ‘When you came crashing in, it just shit me up!’ were two of my favourite!

Site specific performance has opened up a whole new world of theatre to me, a world that pushes boundaries and that exceeded all expectations I first had. It has been a challenging process, but one I will never forget and definitely carry on with in the future. My only regret is not completing all the impossible tasks I hoped to achieve, going through passport control being just one. Somehow I don’t think my bunny days are over just yet!

Watching you, watching me

Elizabeth Soper / / CCTV, Performance process, Rooms

“Lone Twin negotiate not only their relationship with each other but also, more importantly, their relation with other people.” ((Williams, David and Carl Lavery (2011) Good Luck Everybody: Lone Twin: Journeys, Performances, Conversations, Wales: Cambrian Printers, p.69))

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www.lonetwin.com

 

The audience and the performer have very different roles. In theatre the audience come to watch a performance and to be entertained in a friendly and safe environment. In site specific performance, the roles are the same, yet the environment will be different depending on the chosen site. ‘Safe House’ is in an interesting site to perform in, and isn’t the most welcoming house to invite the audience into. They won’t know what to expect and they will be interacting with the performers which generally in theatre, wouldn’t happen. “Rather than simply occupying an ‘ususual setting’, site-specific performance is adjudged to hold ‘possibilities for responding to and interrogating a range of current spatial concerns..” ((Pearson, Mike (2010) Site-Specific Performance, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, p.8))

Although our audience is coming to watch a performance, the idea of them being watched will be present as they will notice and be aware that there are CCTV cameras in each room. This questions who is doing the watching and who is being watched; the audience or the performer.

“Here the term ‘house’ is to be understood in a general sense as any closed individual area beyond the body, in which man can remain and move with safety.” ((Bollnow, O.F. (2011) Human Space, London: Hyphen Press, p.267)) Thinking about this, I have decided to experiment with this whole concept in my performance in the kitchen. I would like the audiences experience in the kitchen to be different from any other room in the house, and to go away with different reactions to it. Perhaps trying various performances on my audience will create a whole new reaction, one performance idea being me watching my audience.

Having a television playing a film of the adventures I have had as a rabbit is quite humorous, and will draw the audience in. But perhaps instead of interacting with my audience, I could just ignore them. Standing quietly in the corner gives a different feel to the room completely, as it contrasts to the humour and makes them aware that they are the ones being watched. Me watching them watching me on the television is particularly interesting, and will be fascinating to see the reactions I then get from them.

“if you dress up funny…people will shout at you” ((Govan, Emma, Helen Nicholson and Katie Normington (2007) Making a Performance, Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices, London: Routledge, p.125))

Another performance technique I could experiment with is discussing with the audience the reactions I have received, using what people have said as verbatim to tell others: “Moreover, in some examples of verbatim theatre the performers also incorporate elements of their own lives into the production, employing a self-reflective mode.” ((Haedicke, Susan (2009) Political Performances: Theory and Practice, New York: Columbia University, p.115))

Having filmed in different places in the bunny costumes I have met different people with a variety of reactions to me. Whatever reaction I get will be written down or recorded, and this can be used as conversation in my performance. This will create a different reaction all together from the previous performance idea as I will be verbally interacting with my audience in the bunny costume, which again brings humour and absurdity to be having a civilized conversation in a kitchen with a giant rabbit.

Lone Twins, ‘To The Dogs’, is a good example of a piece of their work that gradually built and expanded as it was carried out. Gregg and Gary cycled two folding bicycles through Brussels, Belgium for 24 days and ended each day by putting on a short performance at the Kunsten Festival des Arts retelling the events of that day.  The experiences they had built up over this period of time and each performance expanded as they experienced more things, interacted with more people and witnessed various different places: “The interest is in how those small moments, each five minutes long, will change over time as they become situated in the growing, differing contexts of each other.” ((Williams, David and Carl Lavery (2011) Good Luck Everybody: Lone Twin: Journeys, Performances, Conversations, Wales: Cambrian Printers, p.69))

The Impossible Tasks

Elizabeth Soper / / Documentation, Home, Performance process, Research

“They are ‘outsiders’, but oddly appealing.” ((Williams, David and Carl Lavery (2011) Good Luck Everybody: Lone Twin: Journeys, Performances, Conversations, Wales: Cambrian Printers)).

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Photo taken: 21/03/2013 – ‘Library Student Card’

 

Lone Twin’s performances are durational and throughout the performance process ideas are formed, either from audience members or situations, and these are added into their work. One piece of work, called ‘Sledge Hammer Songs’, was one which consisted of them in the street in green plastic capes and hunting horns. They directly addressed the audience and started having conversations with them. Good Luck Everybody discusses this idea of them being outsiders and displaced which I find particularly evident in my ideas for performance. “..their outdoor outfits do not belong in any urban context, and their behaviour sets them apart from anyone else around.” ((Williams, David and Carl Lavery (2011) Good Luck Everybody: Lone Twin: Journeys, Performances, Conversations, Wales: Cambrian Printers)). They asked the audience to sit in a circle. Gary consistently danced around this circle while they told stories they had heard as they travelled and toured with the piece.

Thinking about their work I have decided to take on the task of writing as many things that would be impossible to achieve in a rabbit costume. I will trial them and make a film of them to document my progress and to see whether they are in fact impossible. These impossible tasks are in and out of the home, and range from everyday normal activities to random ideas. For example; opening a bag of crisps to getting into a nightclub while being dressed as a rabbit. Like Gregg and Gary I can use these stories I have collected on my travels as the white rabbit and tell them to my audience over a cup of tea in the kitchen. The idea of telling them stories, asking for their feedback and using their reactions will create another story for later audience members.

I have decided to decorate the kitchen with things that I own to make it more homely, creating a friendly atmosphere. During my adventures as a rabbit I have managed to get a student/library card made in which I have used in some of the videos. This will be hung up on the wall to help decorate the space, showing something I have collected along the way. There’s also something nice about having a student card reading ‘Libby the White Rabbit’ and giving this sense of identity to the role and sharing this with my audience.

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This makes me again reflect on Bobby Baker’s piece; The Kitchen Show. I like this idea of the absurdity mixed with the norm and the humorous contrast that it portrays. It is something I very much hope to achieve in my performance – holding a normal conversation and doing everyday things in the kitchen, yet they will be somewhat impossible to accomplish in a rabbit costume.

The Kitchen Show

Elizabeth Soper / / Performance process, Research, Rooms

“Perhaps what is most interesting in Baker’s work, an ingredient of the adjective ‘incomparable’, is that her work cuts across any strong distinction between the visual and the performing arts.” ((Barrett, Michele and Bobby Baker (2007), Bobby Baker: Redeeming Features of Daily Life, USA: Routledge, p.3)).

Bobby Baker’s, The Kitchen Show was something I found particularly interesting to watch. Her performance was of her in a kitchen with a commentary over the top explaining what she is doing, why she is doing it, and how it makes her feel – in the style of a cooking programme. The only difference was it wasn’t about cooking in her kitchen; she was using the kitchen and items in it to create something unusual and absurd. It starts with her stirring a pan of soup with a wooden spoon. In order for her to hold the wooden spoon she decides to tape her hand in that shape so she can grip it easier. As she does this she describes it so naturally, as if it is a completely normal thing to do in a kitchen. This I found quite humorous, and as the show goes on the ‘tasks’ she does become even more outrageous. Below shows a clip of some of her activities:

dailylifeltd (2012) Kitchen Show by Bobby Baker, Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIbzhmljz_k (assessed 3 March 2012).

Previously I have discussed ideas to change the kitchen completely, having objects in the space that aren’t meant to be in there. After watching The Kitchen Show, I very much like the idea of actually using the kitchen for what it is, with the absurdity of the rabbit being enough. I will experiment with what Bobby Baker did, using kitchen utensils in different ways, for example she tied a wooden spoon in her hair and wore a cheese grater on a piece of string around her neck, and talked about it like its normal. Someone dressed as a rabbit doing everyday tasks like making the audience cups of tea or getting them a snack to eat isn’t normal to watch, similarly to Bobby Baker’s work. It would also be quite a struggle to do everyday tasks with mitten-like hands, big rubbery feet and a giant head with limited space to see out of, and would therefore be very interesting to watch the struggle I would have to endure just to do a simple task.

From cowboys in the street to rabbits in the kitchen

Elizabeth Soper / / Performance process, Research

Lone Twin’s performances are public involved, and performances are built on the interaction they have with their audiences and the reactions they get from them. Gary Winters and Gregg Whelan, who were the founders of Lone Twin, are not actors, and do not use acting in their work, they perform as themselves. When discussing their work, Gregg spoke; “So it’s not at all an actorly thing; it’s just a reporting back, and trying to give it some space.” ((Williams, David and Carl Lavery (2011) Good Luck Everybody: Lone Twin: Journeys, Performances, Conversations, Wales: Cambrian Printers)). This is something I have mentioned before that I will be doing – not acting as if I am a rabbit, but just being myself in a rabbit costume.

One of their performances called ‘Totem’ involved them dressed as cowboys carrying a full sized telegraph pole in a straight line through the city of Colchester. Some members of the public would stop and ask them what they were doing and others would even join in and help them carry it for a while. Their work includes the public and that helps them structure their performances: “The first times that it happened people were suddenly, without any framing of it, inside the piece, doing what it was we were doing.” ((Williams, David and Carl Lavery (2011) Good Luck Everybody: Lone Twin: Journeys, Performances, Conversations, Wales: Cambrian Printers)). The notion of interacting with the audience, their lives and their stories over a cup of tea in the kitchen while dressed as a rabbit I think will be very interesting to see how they actually do respond.

Pinocchio Pipenose Household Dilemma

Another idea that could be incorporated is having some sort of installation piece, which would be interesting as some of my ideas were to completely change the purpose of the space, which is the concept of installation art. Paul McCarthy’s works show the way he used fairy tale like characters and changed how they are viewed, making them absurd and shocking. One example would be in 1994 when he dressed in a Pinocchio costume with a mask and a long plastic nose attached to it, in a house like setting. In the piece he uses the nose to blow bubbles in a bowl of ketchup and force feeds chocolate spread through another Pinocchio nose and then covers himself in it. It is something to be watched and doesn’t include interaction with audience members. The idea of using fairy tale characters works well with my performance as my idea came from The White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. Perhaps creating something absurd could also work as the dislocation of having a giant rabbit in a kitchen is initially quite surprising and this concept could be played around with.

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McCarthy, Paul (1994) Pinocchio Pipenose Household Dilemma, Online: “http://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Pinocchio-Pipenose-Household-Dilemma/7CACBC3406FEFD05” (accessed: 24 February 2013)