The performance is going to have an introduction which will hopefully depict what is going to happen and what the audience needs to do. We decided as a group after meeting with our supervisor that we wanted this introduction to be similar to that of a gallery exhibition.
We want this piece of writing to entail the basics of the performance, without expressing to the spectator what our experiment fully is. This needs to say that the person, if they wish to take part in the performance, is required to start at Jordan’s station, move on to Jess’, then Leanne’s and then mine. We are hoping that the audience member will have built a level of trust with us as the performers and hopefully by the time they reach my station, they will be more inclined to take part.
On the aesthetics of the introduction; we feel that the writing should be typed, stark and very concise in what is actually written on it. For the colours, we want just black and white and in regards to the stand, or what the introduction will be stuck on is debatable at the moment for what we can access. We were thinking either a lectern or a music stand. We will be using a music stand to begin with and then we will know whether this fits with the aesthetics of the piece or not.
This idea then was modified greatly as the introduction we had, was too simple and did not offer the audience enough of an insight to the performance. After the teach rehearsal we realised that this introduction had to encourage the audience to question the depth and the concept of the performance without asking then basic questions such as; Can you be intimate with a stranger? We were advised to create a piece of prose that was poetic and influenced the audience’s thinking whilst participating in our performance. What we all decided on was:
The hands, the fingers, the skin, the face and the lips.
All these aspects of the human body can lead you to question your existence, your emotions and the way you react to an ‘other’.
If you remove the masks, the make up and the shells that we, as humans, hide behind, are you left vulnerable?
Are you responsible for the ‘other’ if you acknowledge their existence?
Are they responsible for you?