Category: West Parade

Secrets of the Lost Room

Samuel Davis / / Documentation, Home, Performance process, Research, West Parade

After extensive research and from information that I have gathered, I can speculate that the house on West Parade was where a commissionaire may have lived. We also know from council records and the house itself that it was built in 1932. The notion that the history of the space can influence and seed into a performance is something I became interested in.

Using this as a stimulus, I intend to use found texts to generate the feel of ‘the past’; receipts, photos, TV guides, stories, newspapers, mail, shopping lists and leaflets will build up an extensive amount of material. My aim is that this will make it impossible for the audience to gather a full picture of what any of it means. This ambiguity is not to confuse or trick the audience but to create the feel of a room that has been left untouched for many years. If someone were to open it, they would have to sift through the material to work out what happened in the space. Rather than looking for what has happened in the space, it is instead what hasn’t happened here – ‘things’ haven’t been thrown away.

This has largely been influenced by a guidebook called Rodinsky’s Whitechapel – this guides readers around London’s Jewish East End.

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“Workmen refurbishing one of Spitalfields historic buildings have revealed a twenty year old secret. They have uncovered a lost room in a weaver’s attic room on Princelet Street. The room was the home of a reclusive Jew called David Rodinsky.” ((Lichtenstein, R. (1999). Rodinsky’s Whitechapel. London, Artangel.))

This exposed and ‘lost’ room had been an undiscovered time capsule for over 20 years; a thick layer of dust, spectacles, a cup of tea and a pan of porridge left on a stove were just some of the objects that had been left in 1969 when Rodinsky suddenly disappeared. A plethora of his work, personal and miscellaneous objects were scattered in the attic room.

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A photo showing Rodinsky’s Room as it was found in 1980. ((Forum.casebook.org (2012) East End Photographs and Drawings – Page 122 – Casebook Forums. [online] Available at: http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?p=63682 [Accessed: 7 Apr 2013].))

Rodinsky was known by the locals at the time and some people from the street even grew up with him as a child. Lichtenstein herself had a direct connection to Princelet Street as she was the granddaughter of Polish immigrants who had settled there in the 1930s. She became obsessed with Rodinsky, trying to find out who this man was and why he mysteriously vanished in 1969 “Overtime, my obsession with the story grew. I began to excavate the boxed-up remains in his room. At first this arbitrary archaeology revealed little, the objects seemingly mute with the loss of their originators voice. But slowly, through careful examination of his vast collection a faint image of a man began to emerge” ((Lichtenstein, R. (1999). Rodinsky’s Whitechapel. London, Artangel.))

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Photograph: Rachel Lichtenstein – A to Z taken from Rodinsky’s Room. ((Lichtenstein, R. (1999) AtoZ. [image online] Available at: http://www.rachellichtenstein.com/content/rodinsky%E2%80%99s-whitechapel-1999 [Accessed: Sunday 7th April 2013].))

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Photograph: Rachel Lichtenstein – A note found in Rodinsky’s Room. ((Lichtenstein, R. (2013) Note found in Rodinsky’s room.. [image online] Available at: http://www.artangel.org.uk/projects/1999/rodinsky_s_whitechapel/statements/michael_morris [Accessed: Sunday 7th April 2013].))

Her growing obsession and personal relationship with the Jewish East End led Lichtenstein to create her own art and performances from it.  The huge amount of detritus she collected from a seemingly mysterious man formed part of these performances and art; this was reflected in her performances that were “themselves broken in nature”. ((Guardian, T. (1999) The lost spirit of Spitalfields. The Guardian, [online] 22 May. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/1999/may/22/books.guardianreview9 [Accessed: Sunday 7th April 2013].))

Lichtenstein never managed to figure out exactly what Rodinsky was like. She had often heard conflicting and contradicting memories from people who knew him “He was, according to different witnesses, both very short and very tall. He was backward and he was a genius. He was rich and he was poor. He was painfully shy and he entertained others by playing the spoons in a local cafe. He was clean-shaven and he was bearded. There was no photo of him. At times he seemed like a man who did not exist.” ((Guardian, T. (1999) The lost spirit of Spitalfields. The Guardian, [online] 22 May. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/1999/may/22/books.guardianreview9 [Accessed: Sunday 7th April 2013].)) Comparatively, our own performance is similar as I intend to gather a mixture of found texts that will not expose a specific event that has occurred. Of course, with the amount of material filling the space, it will perhaps create a broad and vague sense that something has happened in the space; something has happened, but no-one will know what. Currently in the space we are frozen and still, this sense of being frozen in time links to Rodinsky’s room on Princelet Street as it remained frozen for over two decades. What happens when a space that is frozen, still, motionless and unmoving is injected with bodies? This very notion is something I am going to explore, there will not only be these scraps of detritus and junk but a living presence that contrasts against this sense of a neglected static space.

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Our own detritus and material that has been collected. Photograph by Sam Davis

As mentioned earlier, Lichtenstein used “arbitrary archaeology” ((Guardian, T. (1999) The lost spirit of Spitalfields. The Guardian, [online] 22 May. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/1999/may/22/books.guardianreview9 [Accessed: Sunday 7th April 2013].)) to uncover the material in Rodinsky’s room. A similar occurrence will happen in the house on West Parade, there will be no direct connection between one object and the next.

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David Rodinsky’s headstone, 1999. Photograph by Rachel Lichtenstein

Human Space? Heart Space?…..or rather OUR Space!

Samuel Davis / / Documentation, Home, Research, Rooms, West Parade

“So we ask, what does homeliness mean and how is it created?” ((Bollnow, O.F (2011) “Human Space” London: Hyphen Press p.142.))

This is an interesting thought, how does one create homeliness? If we apply this notion to the house on West Parade, we can look at the aesthetic and objects of the house. Most room’s contain furniture to identify the use of each space (i.e. bed = bedroom, sofa = living room) however would these room’s still create that sense of homeliness without the furniture? In the living room we have experimented with the feel of the room, simply by moving the sofas into different positions has made us feel more relaxed and made the room more homely.

Keeping the doors shut moves onto another factor that adds to the feeling of homeliness, warmth. Feeling cold instantly changes the mood and feel of a room, I think this is perhaps why the ‘cot room’ creates the opposite feeling of homeliness as there is no radiator meaning it is always cold which makes people feel uneasy. ‘What does homeliness mean?’ – Personally, I think it is a dwelling in which you can feel comfortable, relax and be yourself. However, I think this is only possible if the environment can totally put the individual at ease. “Warmth, seclusion, size, security, stability, history and objects” ((Bollnow, O.F (2011) “Human Space” London: Hyphen Press p.144.)) are all factors that have the potential to make a space feel homely. It is these factors that we want to weaken to challenge the notion of home and make the audience distinctly aware that this space is not a home.

“One must also be able to see that the room has been lovingly cared for. But even though disorder and neglect have a disquieting effect, an excess of orderliness is also oppressive, because one is afraid of disturbing the order. The room must also show that it is lived in, and this means that certain signs of life – a book that has been laid aside, work that has been begun – should be recognizable in it.” ((Bollnow, O.F (2011) “Human Space” London: Hyphen Press p.144.))

This stimulus is at the very heart of what our group intend to create as we plan to play on the fact that a room should be lived in by placing stacks of empty pizza boxes and alcohol bottles all around the room.

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The living room of the house on West Parade showing pizza boxes, beer bottles and other materials. Photograph by Sam Davis. (Please click on the picture to view the Living Room page to learn more about our performance ideas)

Using this as an extreme of a home that has been lived in, will subvert the audiences thinking of how a home should be presented and feel. The living rooms aesthetics already provide a contrast to the belief that a home should be cared for, the wallpaper is stained and peeling.

Creating surroundings that show they have been cared for and lived in will always be artificial in a performance.  This is typified from the history and the use of West Parade house as it is set up to represent a certain dynamic. However our space can be changed and moulded to present a different  home artifice. An artifice that says: “Everything looks okay on the surface, but is it ?”

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     Photograph from Human Space book cover. ((Bollnow, O. (2013) Human Space. [image online] Available at: http://www.mottodistribution.com/shop/publishers/hyphen-press/human-space.html [Accessed: 22nd February 2013].))

Homely Home.

Tiffany Abatilda Thompson / / Home, Performance process, Rooms, West Parade

Many of have good and bad memories of home and different ideas on what home is and should be like. Home for me is feeling safe and comfortable with the people around me I love and care about. Also the feeling of being at home with items around you that gives you a sense of comfort such as, pictures, smells, certain ornaments and furniture. Many people don’t have that, children in care and homeless people on the street. Homeless people have nothing just a place where they can sit and sometimes take shelter from the cold and rain. Children in care have a home and shelter but does it feel like home not having parents or people they love around them.

The house on West Parade is a shabby neglected house with peeling wallpaper, shabby furniture and old decor, there’s no feeling of homeliness we should get in a house. It’s hard trying to adapt our feelings we all have of home into a house that looks so neglected.

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Living Room Wallpaper. 19/02/2013

‘Man can lock the door of his house from the inside, but he is not for that reason locked into his house’ (( Bollnow, O.F (2011) “Human Space” London: Hyphen Press p.147.)). Shutting a door in the house or knowing you have the door locked you feel so much safer, one can feel at ease and totally relax when they know they are ‘Free from attack’ ((Little, W (1969) “The Oxford Universal Dictionary” London: Oxford University Press. )).

‘Bare rooms have a chilling effect’ (( Bollnow, O.F (2011) “Human Space” London: Hyphen Press. P.144. )). The living room is the heart of the house where you can feel most safe, this is normally crowded with friends and family who sit and be social. The Living room feels warm and safe where you can relax and be yourself. Feeling at home is when you are around everyone and feeling safe also feeling that you belong somewhere. The living room on West parade is small, cold and hardly has any furniture this make’s the room un- homely as it doesn’t feel warm, cozy and safe like a living room should.

When in a session in the house just moving the furniture around so the sofa and chair facing the TV/middle of the room it felt a lot more homely.  Myself, Lauren and Sam were thinking about home and about the safety of it where your free from intrusion, but what if you were intruding in your own house? The thought of watching something you shouldn’t  such as peeping through a key hole, watching someone in the bath or watching someone getting changed. Are you safe in your home?  Having this idea and the idea that the TV center’s the living room, why don’t we put inappropriate things on TV to watch.

With the seed planted, i was thinking what if we had videos of people having a bath upstairs being streamed on to the TV downstairs, watching something so personal so openly in the living room where everyone gathers. In the bathroom in the bath or having a shower you are most vulnerable were you think you’re safe.

 

Keep Calm and Follow The White Rabbit

Elizabeth Soper / / Home, Performance process, West Parade

“Non-acting can be understood as functioning in the tradition of the modernist avant-garde in that it is not a mimetic practice that seeks to represent a fictional character, but a reframing of reality that seeks to blur the boundaries of art and life.” ((Govan, Emma, Helen Nicholson and Katie Normington (2007) Making a Performance, Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices Oxon and USA: Routledge, pp.59-60))

For the past few weeks we have had a lot of different ideas about what is associated with the kitchen and how we can create a performance with it. I have discussed changing the function of the kitchen and playing with how long things take to make. But how can you link these ideas together to make an interesting performance, capturing the audience’s attention and creating something they have never seen before? The answer I found to this, it seems, is in the shape of a giant white rabbit costume.

 

 “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” ((Carroll, Lewis (1940) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, USA: The Colonial Press Inc. p.4))

 

The White Rabbit from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland written by Lewis Carroll, is the character inviting Alice in, which is what I will be doing with my audience. The idea of time links to The White Rabbit as he is always checking his pocket watch and conscious of being late. The kitchen in our West Parade house has several hooks on the walls in which I thought I could hang a variety of different wrist watches and pocket watches to accentuate the theme of time.

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Photo taken: 08/02/2013 – ‘Time’

As for purpose, an idea that I very much want to experiment with would be to set up a dining table outside in the back garden which could perhaps link to the ‘mad tea party’ scene in the book. I like the notion of filling the kitchen cupboards with items that aren’t associated with a kitchen. The idea that things are where they don’t belong I find very interesting, which links to the fact that there is a person dressed as a rabbit in a kitchen – it shouldn’t be there. This sense of dislocation is extremely relevant to this performance and the notion of things being where they shouldn’t and disturbing the norm of that space. Adding to this, the concept of ‘non-performing’ would be apparent as I wouldn’t be acting as if I am The White Rabbit from the book, I wouldn’t be acting like a rabbit at all, I am just Libby who happens to be wearing a bunny costume which again emphasises the notion of dislocation. In Making A Performance it questions how the company, Reckless Sleepers, portray ‘non-performing’ in their devised performance of The Last Supper; “Are the actors themselves? (They are named as such in the script.) Are they invented personas? Are they momentarily representations of the people whose words they speak?” ((Govan, Emma, Helen Nicholson and Katie Normington (2007) Making a Performance, Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices Oxon and USA: Routledge, p.115))

Something I will be experimenting with now will be exploring different conversational topics and how to react if an audience member asks; ‘why are you dressed as a rabbit?’. “Theatre practitioners need to acknowledge that participation can be profoundly disturbing; that it may involve making ourselves vulnerable as we open ourselves to unexpected experiences and outcomes.” ((Freshwater, Helen (2009) theatre & audience, London: Palgrave Macmillan, p.76))

Do I acknowledge that I am dressed in a giant rabbit costume or not? Do I notice that there is no possible way to pour a cup of tea with my big fluffy paws without spilling it, or do I treat the situation as if I’m not wearing the costume at all? Time shall tell.

Let’s escape from reality.

Elizabeth Soper / / Performance process, Rooms, West Parade

“The kitchen today is the cockpit of the dwelling, its high-tech gadgets and stainless steel fittings and electronics confirm its status as the nerve centre.” ((Heathcote, Edwin (2012) The Meaning Of Home, London: Frances Lincoln Ltd, p.56))

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http://www.divadlohome.net/shows/doma.html

The kitchen has a certain purpose and everyone uses it for that function. Most people wouldn’t use their kitchen to sit and watch TV in or have a nap. There is also the concept of time that is relevant to the kitchen. The waiting for the bread to pop up from the toaster, the microwave to ping and the kettle to boil. “Places are about relationships, about the placing of peoples, materials, images and the systems of difference that they perform.” ((Pearson, Mike  (2010) Site-Specific Performance, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, p.13))

So what would happen if we changed the function of the kitchen, if its purpose was completely different? And what if the waiting never ended? This quote written by Tim Etchells made me think about the reality and how far we can stretch the imagination, playing with the audiences perceptions to create something quite the opposite to what it should be; “how long do you have to have lived somewhere until you are allowed to lie about it?” ((Govan, Emma, Helen Nicholson and Katie Normington (2007) Making a Performance, Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices Oxon and USA, Routledge, p.131))

Perhaps using the kitchen as a space to do something else could be experimented with. This is something that Lital Dotan from Williamsburg did when she opened her house to the public and it became ‘The Glasshouse Project’. Her kitchen had various objects in for example, using the cupboard space as a bookshelf instead of storing food.

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Williamsburg Couple Showcasing Their Home as Art Gallery, Online: “http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120823/williamsburg/williamsburg-couple-showcasing-their-home-as-art-gallery” http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120823/williamsburg/williamsburg-couple-showcasing-their-home-as-art-gallery (accessed: 21st Febuary 2013).

DoMA / at HoME is another example of a performance in a house which includes different performances, some rehearsed and prepared, and some improvised. The performances differ with the various people taking part, as each person lives somewhat differently, in diverse spaces and places. This is reflected in each individual space in the house as the performers experiences of home are the influence for their performance.